Naruto Namikaze: Konoha's Legacy
by Kang of Dragons
Summary: Kakashi raises Naruto and doesn't keep his parentage secret. Naruto grows up respected but there are ninja after him; ones that are unknown even to the Hokage. AU. Eventual OP!Naruto.
1. Graduation - 1

**Enter Naruto: Exit Minato**

A twelve year old Minato stood on a water tower looking upon the Hokage Monument. The three faces there eah represented the will of fire perfectly in their own way. The Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju. He was the co-founder of the entire hidden village system along with his best friend -yet worst enemy- Madara Uchiha. The Nidaime Hokage Tobirama Senju, Hashirama's younger brother. Tobirama was the one who made the rules and founded the chunin exams, while Hashirama founded the village Tobirama is the one who ensured that the village could run day-to-day operations. Then there was Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime-sama the current Hokage. He was the one who had the hat the longest, serving since the middle of the Second Shinobi World War and keeping it to this day. Minato smiled, one day his face would be up there, with the greatest shinobi his village had ever known.

 **Twelve Years Later**

* * *

Minato Namikaze stood above his wife, a gleaming claw the size of a man touching the woman's back. Under her was a small child with cerulean blue eyes, though there was a strange six ring pattern in them.

The baby looked at his mother and smiled a toothless grin, his whisker marks -three on each cheek- looked like extra smiles. The woman smiled as she felt the claw slowly imbed itself in her back. Tears fell onto the baby's blanket as she smiled at him.

"Naruto, my son, I love you." She said as the claw finally tore through her body, there was a flash of white just as the claw tore into the ground.

A young man with spiky white hair wearing a black uniform and mask that covered his entire body and half his face was holding Naruto a few feet away.

The man turned and saw Minato, his teacher and father figure, standing there with a large claw through his stomach and his wife -Kushina Uzumaki- under him, pinned to the floor by the very same claw.

"Sen… sensei…" Kakashi muttered.

"Kakashi, bring Naruto here." Minato said, a smile on his face as he saw his student holding his son, "Listen, I'm going to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto, it'll cost my life but he'll be the hero of the village." Minato spun a few hand seals and shouted, "Sealing Jutsu: Reaper Death Seal!" A large, spectral entity appeared behind Minato from a complex seal matrix.

"State my duty." The creature said, it's voice carried a deep echo, but each voice was different.

"Reaper, I will give you my soul if you seal the Kyuubi within my son, Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki." Minato said.

The reaper looked Minato over a few times, "Your soul alone does not suffice."

"T… Take mine too." Kushina said weakly from her spot on the ground. The reaper looked at her once and nodded.

"It will be done. I will place the beast within Naruto, but it is up to you to ensure he stays there." The reaper put a hand on the talon and the entire mountain sized fox became an orange orb the size of a softball. Minato began spinning hand signs at a rapid pace, an insanely complex seal matrix -one that made the reaper's seal seem like a child's doodle- formed in front of him as he did so.

As the reaper brought his hand to touch Naruto Minato winced, hoping it wasn't a bad idea. The orange orb entered Naruto's stomach.

"SEAL!" Minato shouted with everything he had left, placing a hand on his son's stomach and leaving a spiral design with two four pronged sealing matrixes.

"Naruto… don't be picky. Eat lots and grow strong… Make sure that you bathe every day and stay warm… Also… Don't stay up late… You need lot's of sleep… And make friends, you don't need a lot, just a few. Ones you can really, really trust… No alcohol until you're an adult… Too much can ruin your health, so drink in moderation. Remember that everyone has strengths and weaknesses… So don't get too depressed if you can't do something well… I'm a woman so I don't know too much about this but… But just don't get hooked on bad woman… Find someone just like me. Be true to yourself, have a dream and have the confidence to make that dream come true." Kushina cried, "There's so much… Oh there's so much more that I want to pass on to you… I wish I could stay longer… I… I love you." The woman said as the reaper began to take her soul away.

"Naruto, I believe in you. You'll be a great man some day." Minato smiled sadly as he felt the reaper suck at his soul as well, "Remember son, I love you." Minato then reached over and ruffled Kakashi's hair, "You too Kakashi, I'm proud of you." Minato smiled as the reaper took the last bit of his soul.

"Naruto, I promise you…" Kakashi looked at the baby he held in his arms, tears forming in his one visible eye as the little guy reached towards his face and giggled, "I'll make sure you become the best man possible."

 **Twelve Years Later**

* * *

Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki had just graduated from the shinobi academy of Konoha. He was standing on the very same water tower that Minato had stood on twenty-four years ago. He looked at the Hokage Monument's four faces. Hashirama Senju, the man who made the villages a thing. Tobirama Senju, the man who created a near innumerable amount of jutsu and ensured that the village could run. Then there was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the current Hokage and one of Naruto's precious people. Finally there was Minato Namikaze, his father and the man who sealed the kyuubi inside of him. While Naruto held no ill will towards his father -it was for the sake of the village, he had no familial feelings towards the man, how could you? No in Naruto's eyes his father was Kakashi Hatake, the man who had raised him to be the person he was today.

"Hey Naruto!" He turned and saw his best friend, Ino Yamanaka, standing at the base of the tower, "You coming? We're going to BBQ to celebrate!"

Naruto smirked and jumped down, "Let's go." He smiled as he remembered meeting Ino for the first time.

* * *

 **Flashback start**

 _A six year old Naruto fidgeted nervously as Kakashi walked him to the academy for his first day. He wanted to make a good impression, what if he messed up Kakashi's image as the Leaf's strongest? What if he sullied the Namikaze name? What if he made everyone laugh at him?_

" _Naruto, don't worry so much." Kakashi said as he walked his charge ever closer towards the looming blue sign that signified the entrance to the academy._

" _Hey bro, can I just learn to be a ninja from you?" Naruto asked with the best puppy dog face he could manage._

 _Kakashi waved him off with a laugh, "Maa maa, don't worry so much. No one's gonna be mean to you and you won't have to fight anybody until next year."_

 _Naruto pouted, "I'm not afraid of fighting, I could beat up everybody all at once." The blond huffed, "I just don't wanna be stuck with a bunch of wimps."_

" _Overconfidence isn't a good thing Naruto, having friends is always a good thing. Remember your mom's letter?" Kakashi said. Truthfully Kushina hadn't written the letter it had been Kakashi using his Sharingan to memorise her speech and copy her hand writing._

" _Ya, I don't need a lot of friends, only a few. But I've gotta trust 'em lots and lots!" Naruto said, his mother's letter always made him smile, it was like he could feel her love around him whenever he heard it's words._

" _So go make some friends, I'll see you tonight." Kakashi patted him on the back and he ran forwards._

" _YAHOO! Watch out, here comes Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, DATTEBAYO!" He shouted as he ran onto the yard._

 _Kakashi looked at the sky, "Minato-sensei, you'd be proud."_

 _Naruto ran into the play yard and saw his new class. There was a black haired boy in blue sitting alone in the corner, reading a book. There was a pink haired girl in red playing in the flowers with a blonde girl wearing purple. Then there was a dirty looking kid in a jacket who was playing on the obstacle course they had. There was a girl with short lavender hair standing by herself and fiddling her fingers. Finally he saw a bored looking kid with a pineapple style haircut staring at the sky with a chubby kid sitting next to him eating a bag of chips._

 _Naruto walked up to the duo of boys first._

" _Hi, I'm Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki!" He said, holding out his hand._

" _Shikamaru Nara." The pineapple headed boy waved lazily with two fingers._

" _Choji Akimichi." Choji shook Naruto's hand, "You're the Fourth's son right?"_

 _Naruto scowled a little, "Yea, but I'm not the same as him, he was my dad and I'm me!" Naruto declared, his thumb jutting into his chest._

" _Well pleased to meet you Naruto." Choji smiled, he angled his chip bag towards the blond, "Chip?"_

 _Naruto took one, "Thanks." He smiled._

 _Naruto sat with the two for a while. He liked Choji a little more than Shikamaru, but that was just because he got to know the Akimichi heir, Shikamaru was more quiet and reserved._

 _At lunch Naruto decided to try and talk to the shy girl, she looked kind of familiar but he couldn't place her._

" _Hi, I'm Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki!" Naruto said, holding out his hand._

 _The girl -Hinata Hyuga- went beat red and fainted. Naruto and looked around._

" _IRUKA-SENSEI!" He called out. The scarred chunin rushed over and grabbed Hinata._

" _What happened?" He asked._

" _I said hi and she fell over." Naruto said, tears in his eyes, "Did I hurt her?"_

" _No she'll be fine Naruto, she's probably just got a cold." Iruka said, "Why don't you go play."_

" _Okay, as long as she's safe." Naruto said, turning around and walking away._

" _Hi!" It was the blonde girl from the flowers this morning, "I'm Ino Yamanaka!"_

 _Naruto waved as he took a step back, she was really close, "Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, nice to meet ya-ttebayo!" He covered his mouth, "Sorry."_

 _Ino giggled, "Don't worry, it's kinda funny." She said with a smile._

" _Really?" His eyes lit up._

" _Ya, it's like, you can't talk without making a funny noise." Ino said with a laugh._

 _Naruto laughed too, "You know my brother Kakashi, well he's not my actual brother but he's like my brother but he always tells me to keep it in check because I'd make for a bad ninja. But you like it!" Naruto beamed, "I think you'll be my new best friend." Naruto hugged Ino, she giggled and hugged him back._

 **Flashback end**

* * *

The two got to the BBQ place that was owned by Choji's mother. The rest of their group was already waiting there. Shikamaru noticed them first and nodded. Sakura smiled at them and Choji waved. Hinata turned to see them and gave a quick smile and wave while Shino just waited for them to get to the table.

"Ino, Naruto. Nice to see you." The Aburame said.

"You too Shino." Naruto smiled.

"Ya, how've you been?" Ino asked.

"I've been well." He replied.

The group ate and laughed while they could, starting tomorrow they would be genin, and would have little to no time to see each other, unless they ended up on the same team, and even then it would be for work.

"I'm gonna miss this." Sakura said, "I mean, I'm probably gonna be with Kiba since he's dead last, but maybe I'll have Naruto on my team too."

"Nope, Teme's beating me hard in academics and we're tied for physical score, so you'll be with him-ttebayo." Naruto said as he ate a piece of meat, "I'll end up being with Ino and probably Shino, or maybe one of the other kids. Don't know any of their names."

"Well at least I'll have the handsome prodigy on my team." Sakura stuck her tongue out at Naruto.

"Uhm, Shino's gonna be on my team." Naruto said, causing the shy Aburame to blush a little and move away slightly.

"Hey Naruto, are you sure that Ino isn't going to be with Choji and I?" Shikamaru asked, "I mean reforming the InoShikaCho and all."

"Kakashi said that Jiji is skipping you guys this time, something about strategy being too well known, not good for war." Naruto said, being raised by an elite-jonin and being close to the leader of the village he got a lot of inside information, not that he was supposed to know that is. Kakashi had taught him to be stealthy a little too well.

"Why would we be planning for a war?" Hinata asked, "It's not like there's been an unusual amount of border scouts from other countries lately."

"How do you know that?" Shikamaru asked.

Hinata fidgeted a little, "I, uh, my clan is used as border guards quite often because of the Byakugan and I overheard two chunin talking about how there was no action with that job."

"Even so, it's better to be prepared." Shino said, "Even if we aren't at war currently there is no doubt in my mind that it could happen any day."

"Shino's right." Naruto and Shikamaru said at the same time. Naruto motioned for the Nara to go first and he nodded.

"I mean think of our peace treaties with the other villages as a game of shogi, it'll keep going until someone makes a wrong move."

"Exactly." Naruto said, "For all we know we could be at war tomorrow. Iwa and Kumo recently signed an alliance too, so it may be closer than ever."

"The fact that you of all people knows this much about other villages is kinda scary." Ino said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked.

"Just that you're the kinda guy who can't pass a simple math quiz but can somehow sneak into the Hokage's office and read classified reports like it's the easiest thing in the world." Ino said.

"Nothing's more dangerous than an idiot with knowledge." Shikamaru added lazily.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, the rest of the group laughing.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Naruto ran the academy obstacle course. There was currently two hours until his final class where he would learn who his teacher and teammates were going to be and he was a little nervous.

"I swear if I've gotta be with the damned Teme I'll snap." He said as he rolled under a volley of shuriken -they were dulled but they still hurt like hell when you got hit. He jumped onto a log that swayed side to side and ran across, applying chakra to his feet to keep his grip. When he got to the end he leapt over a large hole in the ground -The fall wasn't deadly but you could easily break something if you hit the bottom.

Naruto landed with a roll before running full speed towards the end of the course. Dulled spikes broke through the ground and nearly impaled Naruto, who landed on the other end of the field of spikes with a roll.

"That's new." He panted.

"No, that jutsu's been around forever." Kakashi said, reading his book.

"HEY!" Naruto shouted, "You tried to kill me!" He threw a kunai at his brother figure, who merely flicked the weapon away.

"Maa maa, Naruto you shouldn't play with sharp toys, you could hurt yourself." Kakashi said, "And besides, if I wanted to kill you I'd just forbid ramen for the rest of your life."

Naruto's eyes widen, "DON'T. YOU. DARE!" He growled.

"Maa, don't worry." Kakashi waved him off, his tone then got more serious as he said, "Run it again."

Naruto groaned but went to the beginning and began to run the course again, this time with Kakashi using a few jutsu to try and trip him up.

Naruto made it passed the first volley of shuriken even though Kakashi doubled the amount. The second volley was laced with fire. The third volley came as Naruto ran over a log. Kakashi used a wind jutsu to increase the speed of the stars and they nearly knocked Naruto off course. The blond continued with a renewed burst of speed, dodging the rest of the shuriken and nearing the final obstacle, the swaying log. He jumped onto it and ran full on towards the end, hoping to finish before Kakashi could attack him again.

Too bad Kakashi already new what he was going to do now.

"Fire Style: Flaming Hounds!" The man shouted, finishing a few hand seals and spewing three flaming wolves from his mouth, each one rushing towards Naruto with a vicious growl.

The blond yelped and ran even faster, turning and beginning the seals for the only water jutsu he knew, "Water Style: Raging Waves!" He shot a large stream of water at the wolves but it was too weak and only managed to douse one.

The two wolves were about to hit Naruto when a stream of water cut through them.

"Kakashi, isn't a B-Rank jutsu a little much ?" Iruka asked.

"Maa, he would've figured it out." Kakashi waved Iruka off, he really wasn't worried about Naruto getting hurt. The boy was crafty and probably would've figured something out.

"Naruto, why don't you come into the classroom, there's only a little bit until the team reveals anyways. And I'm sure Kakashi has something better to do than send flaming dogs after you." Iruka said to his student.

"Not really." Kakashi smirked with his eye, "I've got nothing to do for about three hours."

Iruka was about to say something but a glare from Kakashi shut him up.

"We don't wanna spoil anything." Kakashi whispered as he took off in a shunshin.

"Why didn't I learn that in school Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, "Seems like a kick-ass jutsu."

"No swearing." Iruka scolded as the two walked into the class.

 **-DATTEBAYO-**

Naruto sat at the back, Ino was beside him and Sakura beside her. Their class, thirty hopeful genin, were seated in the room.

Iruka stood in front of the class, his teacher's aide Mizuki stood beside him. The blue haired chunin sent a spike of killing intent towards Naruto, who retaliated with a glare.

"I just want to say that I'll be proud to serve with you all." Iruka said, "Most of you have done amazingly well these past seven years, others, well I hope that you pick up your socks because the shinobi world isn't as grand as it is in the fairy tales. It's kill or be killed." Iruka turned to his partner, "Mizuki, do you have anything you'd like to say?"

Mizuki stepped forwards with a smile, "As Iruka said the shinobi world isn't pretty. You'll eventually be forced to kill and for those of you who make jonin some of the kills will be innocent people who made a mistake. The kills will hurt, and if they don't I ask that you go and see a therapist, maybe even pay to have a Yamanaka do it." Mizuki said, "But that's a long ways away, for now I wish you all the best."

Iruka smiled and held up two cases, "Here I have the rewards for both Male Rookie of the Year and Female Rookie of the year." He said, "Each box contains twenty top quality shuriken and six top quality kunai."

Mizuki stepped forwards, holding a list of the male students in the class, "Our Male Rookie of the year was a close call between two students, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki." Mizuki said, "But ultimately one stood victor, congratulations Sasuke Uchiha, Rookie of the Year." Mizuki brought the box to Sasuke, who didn't even look at it.

"The dobe can have it, the ones I have are better." Sasuke said.

"I don't want your stinking gifts Teme!" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto shush!" Ino whispered angrily. Naruto sat down with a huff.

Mizuki walked back down and grabbed a list of the girls in the class, "For our Female Rookie of the Year, also known as Top Kunoichi, it was a close call as well, between Ino Yamanaka, who displayed excellently in genjutsu, shurikenjutsu, and academics and Sakura Haruno, whose academic scores are some of the highest since Minato Namikaze himself and whose genjutsu was top of the class, the award goes to…" Mizuki held off on revealing the winner.

"I'm gonna win Ino." Sakura stuck her tongue out, only for Ino to pinch it.

"Sakura Haruno!" Mizuki said. The pinkette jumped up and ran to get the box.

"Thank you Mizuki-sensei." She said as she ran up to Sasuke, "Hey Sasuke-kun, I got Top Kunoichi, that means that we'll be on a team together! How exciting is that?"

Sasuke glared at her, "Can you leave?"

"Oh, ya, sure." Sakura suddenly became interested in her feet as she walked back to her seat.

"HEY TEME!" Naruto shouted, "That wasn't called for!"

Sasuke turned around and glared daggers at Naruto, "Listen dobe, I don't care about anyone here, least of all someone who's only reason for doing well is impressing me. I have one goal and one goal only, and if you can't help me achieve it then stay out of my way." Sasuke said.

Naruto growled and was about to leap at Sasuke when a kunai hit his desk. Mizuki glared, "Sit down."

"Fine, this isn't over Teme." Naruto said to Sasuke.

Iruka waited a few moments before stepping up, "I have the lists for the teams here. Unlike previous years the teams are not going to be about academy scores but how well the Hokage feels the team could work." Iruka then began listing off names, mostly civilian students whose names Naruto hadn't learnt.

"Team Six, Shino Aburame, Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka under jonin Kurenai Yuhi." Iruka said.

"Really, I'm with Kiba? At least Shino is easy to get along with. And I heard that Kurenai is really good at Genjutsu." Sakura said.

"Team Seven, Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka, Naruto Uzumaki, under jonin Kakashi Hatake." Iruka said with a smirk.

"Isn't that team a little too strong?" Shino asked, "I understand that they would work well together, but the reason that we are placed together by our scores is to even out the teams is it not?"

"Very observant Shino." Iruka said, "That is indeed why we made teams like that in the past, however Hokage-sama feels like this new way to make teams will create stronger teams and a stronger Konoha as a whole."

"WAIT!" Naruto shouted, "Why would Teme and I work well together-ttebayo?"

"Naruto I don't know, you can go ask Hokage-sama on your own time." Iruka sighed, "Moving on, Team Nine is still in circulation so Team Ten is Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Hinata Hyuga under jonin Asuma Sarutobi. Your new teachers should be here shortly, until then you have free time." Iruka said as he and Mizuki left the room.

Asuma and Kurenai arrived five minutes later. Asuma was a tall man with neatly kept black hair and stubble with a smoke in his mouth. He was wearing the standard jonin gear but had a white sash with the kanji for fire on his waist. Kurenai was a woman of average height with long black hair that curled towards the ends, she had red eyes and was wearing an armored red blouse with a bandage dress overtop.

"Team Six, I am Kurenai Yuhi and I will be your sensei from now on." Kurenai said, "If you'd follow me." She led Sakura, Kiba, and Shino out of the room.

"Hey. Asuma Sarutobi. Team Ten I'll be your teacher, c'mon." He waved and walked out of the room, his team stood and followed.

The other jonin came and grabbed their teams.

"We're gonna be here for a while." Naruto said as he began to practice hand seals, "Kakashi is always late."

Ino laid her head down, "Wake me up when he gets here." She said.

Sasuke just sat there, "Dobe."

"What?" Naruto growled as he paced around the room, going through the same seals over and over again.

"Do you want these?" Sasuke asked.

"I already told you, no." Naruto said.

"I'm not going to use them." Sasuke said.

"I still don't want them, mine are high quality too." Naruto replied.

"I'm not talking about quality. These are better than mine." Sasuke said, "I just refuse to use any other than my father's old weapons."

Naruto stopped, was Sasuke being… sentimental? "KAI!" Naruto put his hands in a seal and tried to break the genjutsu he was sure he was in, but nothing happened.

"I'll throw them out if you don't want them." Sasuke said.

"Why don't you give them to Ino?" Naruto asked.

"You're the only person here I respect." Sasuke said, "No one else can actually make me try in a fight."

"Didn't Choji almost beat you that one time" Naruto joked, "But really Sasuke, don't throw them out, keep them. You don't have to use them but keep them. Just in case."

"Hey!" Kakashi opened the door, "Am I late?"

"Just on time." Naruto said with a smile.

"Maa, I'll see you in an hour then." Kakashi turned and walked out of the room, leaving Naruto slack-jawed.

"KAKASHI GET BACK HERE!" He shouted.

* * *

 _I hope you guys liked it. This story is going to be weekly until I start the second part of Legends Will Rise (Which is my Naruto and DBZ crossover story for those of you who don't know) In which case I will be doing both Bi-weekly._

 _Anyways that was the first chapter, second chapter will probably be out on the 23rd when I get back._

 **THANKS FOR READING :D**


	2. Graduation - 2

**Bell Test!**

Team Seven was sitting on the roof of the academy building, Kakashi watched them sitting there. Sasuke was sitting there stone faced while Ino and Naruto were waiting for Kakashi to talk.

"Soooo…" Naruto said, hoping Kakashi would talk.

After thirty seconds Ino stood up, hands on her hips, "YO! Kakashi! You gonna talk?"

Kakashi ignored her.

"KAKASHI!" She shouted, stomping her foot. She walked towards him but froze when his eye met hers, a spike of killing intent hit her like a truck.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, standing up, "If you're finished I'll be leaving."

"Finally." Kakashi let loose a breath, "Sasuke has the most patience, Ino you have the least."

"But Naruto talked first!" Ino shouted.

Naruto pointed at Ino and said, "But you do that."

Ino slapped his hand away, "I do not!"

Sasuke grunted and sat down. Kakashi just shook his head.

"See patience is one of the traits I'll be instilling in you three. The other two being diligence and humility. You three will also begin working as a team starting tomorrow." Kakashi said, "I expect you all at training ground twelve by 8am, if you're late then there will be a punishment." Kakashi said, "But before that we'll all have to get to know each other."

"I already know you and Ino though." Naruto said.

"As friends, not at teammates. You may know Ino's strengths and weaknesses from class but does she know yours?" Kakashi asked, "You know me but do you know what my weakness is? Do you know what to watch for if you're fighting with me?"

"Your weakness is that orange book in your kunai pouch." Naruto said.

"In a real fight that book is nothing." Kakashi said, appearing behind Naruto faster than any of the newly minted genin could see, "I'm an S-Rank shinobi, former ANBU captain, and I once served as Hokage-sama's right hand. Do you really think a book is my weakness?" Kakashi whispered, lowering his voice so only Naruto could hear him.

"Probably." Naruto said, "I mean it's never not in your hands, even in some spars you have with Gai-sensei and Asuma-sensei it's there."

"It's a handicap Dobe." Sasuke said, "Kakashi is known as Kakashi of the Sharingan, and everyone knows that it's near impossible to beat my clan's dojutsu."

"Impressive Sasuke, I didn't think any genin had read the bingo book." Kakashi said, "Few things though. First off it's Kakashi-sensei to you, secondly, it's not a handicap it's because I don't wanna ruin my nice yard, and thirdly, the Sharingan is far from invincible."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, "Maybe if you knew how to use it." Sasuke crossed his arms.

Kakashi shook his head, "Well then, we'll go in a circle, pretending we don't know each other and we'll say our dreams, strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, and hobbies. I'll go first." Kakashi stood to his full height, "My dream for the future, don't really know. You're too young to know about my likes and dislikes and as for hobbies, well I've got a lot. You're up Ino."

"Let's see, my dream is to become a strong kunoichi, at least for now it is. I like a few things, like fashion and flowers. I don't like people who are mean for no reason and my hobbies are hanging out with my friends and gardening. I'm good at genjutsu and some basic ninjutsu but I'm not physically the strongest."

"Sasuke you're up." Kakashi said.

"Hn, they're tons of things I dislike, don't really like much. My hobbies are training and… just training. My dream, it's more an ambition actually, is to kill a certain person. I'm good at basically everything and I don't have any weaknesses."

' _Wow'_ Ino thought to herself, ' _That may be the most I've ever heard Sasuke say at once.'_

' _Sasuke's kinda deep.'_ Naruto thought to himself, _Super arrogant though.'_

"Naruto, you're up." Kakashi said.

"Let's see… my dream is to be hokage, I like training, playing pranks, ramen, and goofing around with my friends. I don't like stuck up assholes who think they're better than everyone else, I also dislike anyone who would harm a comrade." A pang of guilt struck Kakashi's spine as his adopted brother said that, "Hobbies are basically the same as my likes, my biggest strength is ninjutsu because of the kyuubi and my Uzumaki lineage I have huge natural reserves, I'm good with Water Style and Wind Style, but I can only use C-Ranks right now and I need to speed up my hand seals. I'm abiss… bad at genjutsu and my taijutsu style is too unrefined to count as good."

"Not bad, except for you Sasuke." Kakashi said, "Everyone has a weakness, and as a new genin you'll have more now than ever." Kakashi said, "For instance, you've used the same kunai for the past five years, and you don't know how to sharpen then without possibly damaging the blade so you won't risk it. You also get frustrated easily, like when the Akimichi heir was beating you handily in a spar two weeks ago you nearly used a Fire Style jutsu, but were stopped by the chakra constraints in the ring." Kakashi said.

"You were watching?" Sasuke asked.

"Course, I had to check if Naruto was lying to me about being good at fighting with kids his age. He barely lasts three minutes against me so I didn't believe him." Kakashi said.

"Hey, I lasted five minutes last time, AND you used two jutsu that I couldn't possibly beat!" Naruto shouted.

"Maa maa," Kakashi waved him off, "Anyways I'll see you all tomorrow at training ground twelve, 8am." Kakashi waved and disappeared, a swirl of leaves in his place.

"I wanna learn the Shunshin sooo badly!" Naruto shouted.

"Quiet, Dobe." Sasuke said as he walked towards the stairs.

"Hey Teme, wanna come to Ichiraku's?" Naruto asked, "I'm headed there now, it might be good to go as a team."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted and turned away.

"I'll take that as a no." Ino said with a disappointed look, "Let's go Naruto." She said, leading the way to Naruto's favourite restaurant.

 **\- DATTEBAYO! -**

8am came quickly the next morning. Naruto and Sasuke were already there, waiting for her. Ino smiled lightly as she saw the two in a -hopefully- mock fight, knocking each other back with powerful blows.

"Guys!" Ino called out, "You might wanna calm down, it's almost eight!" She called out.

Naruto, in his surprise, was hit by Sasuke's punch and erupted into a plume of smoke.

"GOT YOU NOW TEME!" Naruto shouted, he was at the tree line, going through hand seals, "Wind Style: Devastation!" Naruto shouted, releasing a large stream of wind from his mouth that sent Sasuke flying to the ground.

Naruto then appeared in front of Sasuke, helping him up.

"You've gotten better." Sasuke said, begrudgingly.

"I trained all night." Naruto smiled and rubbed the nape of his neck.

"Guys, Kakashi-sensei will be here soon." Ino said, "You shouldn't be wasting your energy."

"We won't, Kakashi is gonna be late." Naruto said, "Probably won't be here until 11 or so." He then waved them over, "Here, have some food." He pulled out three bento boxes filled with steamed rice, grilled fish, and tsukemono (Japanese pickles).

"Thanks." Ino said as she began to devour the box, Naruto might be kinda stupid sometimes but he was an amazingly talented cook.

Sasuke took it hesitantly, he wasn't sure if Naruto's cooking was to be trusted, after all the dobe could barely do multiplication without getting a headache. He gingerly ate some rice, slightly surprised when he found that it was actually good. He began to eat faster, enjoying the blend of herbs that Naruto used to flavour everything.

It took two hours for Kakashi to arrive, and he was pleasantly surprised when Naruto was sitting in between Ino and Sasuke and laughing, though Sasuke didn't seem to participate in the conversation it was nice to see him sitting beside his teammates and not off in a corner sulking.

Kakashi walked up and waved, Ino glared daggers at him.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" She shouted, "YOU'RE LATE!"

"Maa maa, I was helping an old lady cross the street and then there was this black cat so I had to go across the whole village to make sure I didn't walk passed it, bad luck and all." Kakashi said.

Naruto snorted, he knew that Kakashi went to the memorial stone to talk to his dead friends, Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara, "Ya right sensei, you probably got lost cause you were reading porn on the way here."

Kakashi waved him off and took out two bells, "Anyways, let's get down to business." He said, "I have two bells here, there are three of you. Who ever gets a bell becomes part of Team 7, whoever doesn't will go back to the academy. Also, you'll have until 1pm."

"I thought all genin teams were four men squads." Naruto said, he had never heard of a three man team.

"The fourth is usually a member of the reserves that is around the age of the others." Kakashi said.

Naruto dropped the topic, Kakashi was too good at lying. There was something up, he just had to figure out what.

"You guys will have to come at me with the intent to kill, otherwise you'll die." Kakashi said as he disappeared.

Sasuke took off into the forest surrounding the training ground.

"Ino, we have to stay together, there's no way we'll be able to scratch Kakashi-sensei otherwise." Naruto said, not forgetting what Kakashi told him on the roof yesterday, "We'll need Teme too." Naruto said, running after Sasuke.

"Wait up." Ino ran after him.

Sasuke was in a tree, watching Kakashi, who was standing in place, reading his orange book. He remembered Naruto saying that the book was his weakness, Sasuke could use that. He palmed three shuriken in either hand and jumped over the small clearing Kakashi was in. He moved silently, positioning himself in the perfect spot to strike, even a seasoned jonin wouldn't be able to evade this, after all he was an Uchiha elite.

As Sasuke launched the shuriken Kakashi closed his book and stepped back, his free hand weaving hand seals at an incredible rate.

"Fire Style: Searing Heat!" Kakashi called out, lazily waving his free hand towards Sasuke, sending an intense wave of heat that made the Uchiha light headed.

Sasuke fell to the ground from his spot in the tree but was caught by one of Naruto's Shadow Clones.

"Water Style: Raging Waves!" Naruto called out, spewing a stream of water towards Kakashi, who sidestepped easily, "NOW INO!"

Ino released a flurry of smoke bombs to cover the clone's escape with Sasuke. Naruto grabbed Ino and ran, taking a longer path to the lake, where he would meet up with his clone.

When Naruto, Ino, the clone, and Sasuke met up, Sasuke was just waking up.

"Hey! Teme." Naruto waved in front of Sasuke's face as the clone dissipated, no longer being needed.

"What happened?" Sasuke groaned as he sat up.

"We rescued your sorry ass is what happened." Naruto said, "Now get up, I've got a plan."

Sasuke stood up with a glare, Naruto would have to learn his place, but now wasn't the time, because if Sasuke couldn't become a shinobi then he wouldn't be able to kill _him_. "I'm listening."

Naruto explained the plan to his two teammates and they nodded, leaping into the trees nearby and suppressing their chakra as much as possible.

Naruto stood in front of the lake, waiting for Kakashi to come, like he knew he would.

Kakashi walked calmly towards Naruto, appearing from the brush as if he had been there the whole time -which was possible.

"I hope that you don't plan to take me on alone Naruto." Kakashi said, "I was rather impressed with you and Ino earlier."

"Well, A Hokage has to stand out, I can't always rely on others." Naruto said with a grin, "Now let me show you how much I've learnt." Naruto rushed Kakashi, jumping in the air and creating three clones, all four Naruto began to attack Kakashi using taijutsu, hoping to get a lucky shot in.

Kakashi expertly directed all of Naruto's attacks away from him, not even bothering to dodge. Suddenly a spike of chakra appeared behind the silver-haired jonin and he leapt upwards, evading a fireball the size of a boulder. It flew across the lake, evaporating the water as it went and exploding against a boulder on the other side.

Kakashi's eyes widened at the power behind the fire style jutsu that a genin had just sent at him, that might've killed him.

Kakashi then felt a genjutsu layer over him, but allowed his students-to-be to go along with their plan. He backed up to avoid a kick by Naruto and jumped to avoid a second fireball from Sasuke.

As Kakashi was about to land he heard Ino's voice, "Earth Style Wall!" He looked down and saw nothing. He realised that that's what the genjutsu was for, to hide the place of the wall. Kakashi was about to land when he felt his heel hit the wall and tripped forwards, catching himself with his hand and bouncing upwards, coming face-to-face with Team 7 in all of their glory. Naruto stood in the middle, Sasuke to his right and Ino to his left.

"Kakashi-sensei, we won't lose." Naruto said, punching his palm. Ino nodded and palmed two kunai, Sasuke responded the same way.

' _This might be fun.'_ Kakashi thought to himself as Sasuke ran forwards.

Sasuke and Kakashi were engaged in hand-to-hand combat, the jonin had to admit that Sasuke was good, really good.

"Wind Style: Air Bullets!" Naruto let loose twelve compressed air bullets, nearly hitting Kakashi.

As the jonin dodged he felt another genjutsu, but once again let it happen, he wouldn't be a good teacher if he didn't let his cute little students get away with a few ploys. Kakashi dodged a second flurry of compressed air and saw a fireball flying at him.

Kakashi immediately began his hand seals, "Water Style: Water Wall!" He said, using the water from the lake to shield himself, "Water Style: Snake's Mouth!" Kakashi said, turning the barrier into a large serpent head that flew towards Sasuke.

Naruto jumped in front of the jutsu, going through three hand seals - _Boar Ram Bird_ \- "GALE SURGE!" He shouted, releasing a wave of wind from his body that cut the water jutsu to shreds, once the jutsu was finished though, Naruto was panting.

"Used… too much chakra to stop… Kakashi-sensei's jutsu…" He panted, before falling over. Sasuke saw Naruto fall and thought of the last time he had seen the blond pass out.

* * *

 **Flashback Start**

 _A six year old Sasuke was practicing tree hopping, hoping to catch up to his brother Itachi. As he was jumping from tree to tree he heard a scream._

 _Sasuke's eyes snapped open, he rushed towards the source of the scream and saw a young Hinata Hyuuga, along with three kids around Itachi's age._

' _If they're as old as Nii-san then they must be strong.' Sasuke thought as he watched the boys push Hinata to the ground. Sasuke balled his fists, he wanted to help but couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to move. Was this fear? Were Uchiha elite supposed to feel it? Did Itachi-nii get scared?_

 _Then a loud shout broke Sasuke from his thoughts. I was Naruto, wearing a bright orange jacket with a black swirl on the back and a long red scarf that went down to his feet._

" _Leave Hinata alone-ttebayo!" He shouted, jumping over the three older boys and standing guard in front of the Hyuuga heiress._

" _Or what?" The lead boy said, he knew that Naruto was the fourth Hokage's son, but a twerp was a twerp. The boy had a thick branch in one and and was lightly tapping the other with it._

" _Yea, or what?" The other two asked, each ripping off a branch of a nearby tree and mimicking their leader._

 _Naruto just raised his hands to his side, looking the boys right in the face. He took a branch to the face and didn't move. The second branch caused his to step back and the third hit knocked him to the floor. The boys began beating Naruto with their sticks, laughing._

 _Sasuke was getting angry, he could jump in and beat them. But Naruto was just as strong as he was, and he was getting clobbered. But he also hadn't done anything… then it clicked. Naruto wasn't fighting back on purpose, they were civilians. Naruto was still a ninja in training but with his lineage he was probably just as strong as a new genin already._

 _Just as the lead boy was about to bring his stick down on Naruto's head with both hands a pulse of chakra shattered the stick. Sasuke looked for the source and saw a Hyuuga he didn't recognise, one hand outstretched. The three boys ran away._

 _The Hyuuga walked up to the two and helped Hinata up, then picked up Naruto and left, Hinata right beside him._

 _Sasuke looked at Naruto's bruised form. He had gained respect for the blond that day._

 **Flashback End**

* * *

Kakashi's eyes widened, Naruto had used a D-Rank jutsu to stop a B-Rank, and a powerful one at that. He was impressed, but also worried.

Sasuke ran forwards, nodding slightly towards Ino and hoping she got the idea. He reached for the two bells on Kakashi's waist, finger hooking around them as Kakashi kneed him in the stomach and sent him flying upwards. He looked at his waist and saw one bell missing.

Naruto then sprung up, hands in the tiger seal, "Fire Style: Flare!" He shouted, putting his hands on -a surprised- Kakashi's vest as his hands lit up with heat. Ino rushed in and grabbed the second bell as Kakashi grabbed Naruto with both hands and flung him away.

Ino rolled towards where Sasuke had landed, the bell wasn't in her hand however, Sasuke had two of them.

A smirk appeared on Naruto's face, his plan had worked.

"We win Kakashi-sensei." He said.

"I guess you do." Kakashi said, turns out him babying them wasn't necessary, "Let's go register you as official genin of the Hidden Leaf then." He said, leading them towards the village.

* * *

 _I hope you guys liked the second chapter. The little flashback with Sasuke didn't turn out as planned so that kinda sucks. Next chapter will be D-Ranks and the beginning of Wave. Just to clarify, Naruto's only affinity is Wind in this story, the reason he has water and fire style jutsu will be in a flashback next chapter._

 **THANKS FOR READING :D**

Updates every Wednesday


	3. Graduation - 3

**Graduation!**

Naruto was walking about the village. He had the day off from Kakashi-sensei's training because of yesterday's bell test. Ino was apparently starting on clan jutsu with her dad and all of his other friends had done their tests the first day, meaning that their rest day was yesterday.

As he walked through the streets he heard merchants offering him fresh fruits and calling out to him. While the attention had been nice as a kid, now that he was a little older it felt weird, these people revered him, but what if he failed, if the fox's power leaked out even a little they could all die. Why weren't they scared of him? Was his father really that amazing that even the legendary Kyuubi no Yoko was fodder compared to his seals? Or was it because they were afraid of him that they glorified him?

Naruto shook the thought aside and continued his walk, waving to a few of the villagers but mostly staying to himself. He could feel eyes on him, the same pair of eyes the entire time. Once he was out of the crowded streets he spun around and saw a box painted grey with two eye holes.

"I know you're there." Naruto deadpanned.

The 'rock' burst open and a young boy, probably just entering the academy, was there. He was missing one tooth in the middle which made his smile seem ridiculous. He was wearing a grey helmet with a tuft of hair poking through a hole in the top and a yellow t-shirt. He also had blue shorts and a teal scarf that trailed by his feet.

"NARUTO!" The boy shouted, "YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BE MY RIVAL!"

"Who are you kid?" Naruto asked.

"I'm Konohamaru Sarutobi!" The boy said, sticking his chest out and poking it with his thumb.

"Oh, Jiji's grandson right." The Hokage had told Naruto stories about how his grandson always tried to 'assassinate' him, though it was probably just to try and get the old man to pay attention to him.

Konohamaru scowled, "Yea, that's me." He said, his enthusiasm lost.

"What's wrong, you were so hyper a second ago."

"You only know me because of my gramps." The boy said, "I want to be recognised as my own ninja."

"I know how you feel, the villagers only know me because of my father, the yondaime. They compare me to him, and expect me to be just like him. But I don't want to be, I don't want to. I also want to be my own ninja." Naruto said.

Konohamaru's eyes seemed to sparkle, "You're pretty cool." He said.

Naruto smiled and the two talked for a while, about how Konohamaru was only known as 'Honourable Grandson' and not himself, and how Naruto couldn't go anywhere in the village without people thanking him or telling him how happy they were that he lived there.

After a while Konohamaru decided that Naruto would be his 'boss' and while Naruto thought it was weird, he wouldn't complain if someone wanted to follow him.

"Alright Konohamaru, I've gotta go now, but be sure to train hard and listen to Iruka-sensei whenever you start the academy. I'll try and make jonin so that I can be your sensei when you graduate." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Yea, for sure." Konohamaru said, a large grin on his face. Naruto ran off with a wave which the young boy returned eagerly.

Thirty minutes later Naruto found himself in a familiar training ground, training ground 33 was where Kakashi had taught him basically everything and had found his affinity for him.

* * *

 **FLASHBACK START**

 _A ten year old Naruto stood in the middle of the large field that made up training ground 33. It was his birthday today, but instead of going out with his friends Kakashi had made him come to this place._

 _So he went, and waited. For hours. It took Kakashi three wholen hours to step into the field, where he found Naruto practicing the Substitution jutsu. Kakashi shook his head, it was just like Naruto to be training._

" _Yo." The white haired jonin._

" _Kakashi, hey." Naruto spun around, "So what am I learning today?"_

" _We're going to test your chakra nature." The jonin said, "I know that you aren't supposed to learn this until you make chunin but you're talented enough to start now." Kakashi didn't want the boy to know that it was only because of his father that he was learning this early._

" _So I'll get to learn some kick-ass jutsu?" Naruto asked._

 _Kakashi shook his head, "Not just yet." He saw the excitement drain out of Naruto's face and quickly added, "You'll start on your way to learning them though."_

 _Naruto's smile came back instantly, "So what do I have to do?" He asked._

 _Kakashi removed a piece of paper from his kunai pouch, "Just channel some chakra into this."_

 _Naruto took the paper and channeled his chakra into it. The paper crinkled slightly, crumbled at the edges, burnt a little, got soggy in the middle and then was ripped to shreds._

" _What does that mean?" Naruto asked._

" _It means that you have minor affinities for Earth, Lightning, Water, and Fire and an extremely powerful affinity for Wind." Kakashi said, he was impressed. Even the Hokage didn't have minor affinities for everything at the age of ten, he had to work on that himself after he mastered his major affinity._

" _So I can do all of the jutsu?" Naruto asked._

" _In a sense, unless it's a kekkei genkai or hijutsu." Kakashi said, "We'll work on your Wind first, with water after that and fire after that. Then you can choose what to learn on your own."_

" _Sweet let's start!" Naruto shouted. He and Kakashi immediately started training, learning the_ _ **Wind Style: Blast**_ _jutsu, and E-Rank wind style jutsu that didn't have much use other than training a person's affinity._

 **FLASHBACK END**

* * *

Naruto shook his head. He looked down and covered his hand in electricity. He had learnt an E-Rank jutsu of each nature but hadn't even begun to master them. He was obviously best at Wind Style, with Water Style coming in a close second. Once he was proficient in both he was going to start on Lightning and Fire Style, saving Earth Style for last.

Naruto looked at the trees surrounding the clearing. The trees in Fire country were huge, with the tallest being over four hundred feet tall and thick enough to fit a house.

 _Dragon, Tiger, Hare_ "Water Style" Raging Waves!" Naruto fired a stream of water into a medium sized tree -about seventy feet tall with a ten foot diameter. The stream pierced the bark and dug into the tree about half a foot.

"Not good enough." Naruto continued his assault, taking another fourteen tried to get through the center. Naruto turned towards another tree and blasted a jet of water from his mouth again.

* * *

Naruto stood in the center of training ground 7, tapping his foot.

"Would you stop that?" Sasuke asked, looking up from a scroll he was reading.

Naruto stopped for a second. _"Would you stop that?"_ The blond mocked, then started tapping his foot once more.

Sasuke rolled up his scroll and stood up, walking further away to a tree on the edge of the clearing.

Naruto's eyes lit up as he saw an opportunity to practice his Earth manipulation. He focussed his chakra into the ground and sent a line towards Sasuke, creating a large circle around the boy about a foot deep.

"Earth Style: Pit Trap." He whispered, sending the intent to rip open through the ground. And it worked! A little. There had been a small indent right under Sasuke, but not big enough to bother the Uchiha… Too much.

"Dobe. Try again and I'll kick your ass." Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"Try it Teme. You'd last maybe a minute." Naruto responded, holding up a single finger as if to validate his statement.

Sasuke stood up, rolling his scroll and placing it in his kunai pouch. He flicked his wrists and a kunai was in either hand instantly.

Naruto slipped into his favourite Taijutsu stance and eyed his teammate. It wasn't even a week ago that the three of them worked like a well oiled machine and managed to take Kakashi by surprise -even if the jonin was holding back. A LOT- it still took some semblance of comradery to do something like that.

A mental head shake got Naruto's thoughts into the present. He could think about the puzzle that was Sasuke Uchiha after he kicked said puzzle to next Tuesday.

"NARUTO!" Ino's shriek echoed through the clearing. The blonde angrily stormed in between the boys and looked him dead in the eyes, "You'd best stop this nonsense. NOW! Kakashi-sensei is going to be here in fifteen minutes and I'm NOT! I repeat **NOT** going to do punishment laps again because you two are too prissy to admit that you're friends."

"We aren't friends. He's annoying and I'm going to kick his ass." Sasuke said matter-of-factly.

"Ya right Teme. We just went through this, I'm stronger." Naruto said, poking his head from around Ino to glare at Sasuke.

Ino huffed, threw her arms up and let them flail down, and stomped away while muttering to herself about testosterone and assholes. Naruto made a mental note apologise later. Right now he had a fight to win.

"Maa maa. What do we have here?" Kakashi's voice rang out. "I thought I told you two no more fighting."

Sasuke's eyes widened and he sighed, moving to the edge of the clearing and started jogging. Best to take the punishment without complaints.

"I'm not doing the punishment run." Naruto said with crossed arms, "He started it."

"Who's the one who tried to open a pit trap?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto failed at suppressing his smirk, "It wasn't multiscious… wrong word... I didn't try and be mean. I was… I was testing to see if he had situational awareness." Naruto said with a nod, as if proud of his excuse.

"Double laps." Kakashi said.

Naruto's jaw hit the floor, "WHY?"

"Because you suck at lying."

* * *

 _So I know this is kinda short for a return chapter but the rest should be longer, though I won't give specifics I will say the longest I've written is a little over 15k words and takes place in the next arc._

 _Anyways, I hope you all liked it. This chapter brings the Graduation Arc to a close meaning that next is the Wave Arc. I've decided that instead of having the story on hiatus I'm going to update an arc at a time, so whenever I finish the Wave Arc (Which I hope is satisfactory) I'll be posting a chapter a day until it's done, and then I'll start writing the third arc of the story. If any of you have any questions pertaining to updates or anything don't hesitate to PM me, I try and do my best to respond within a day of getting a message, with the exception being Saturdays, where you'll probably have to wait until Monday for a response._


	4. Awakening - 1

"Sensei!" Naruto shouted, holding a flailing brown cat three sizes too big in his arms, "I demand a C-Rank. We've been doing this for a month now and I'm sick and tired of catching this damned cat every other day."

Kakashi smirked, though none of the three gathered genin could see. Over the month his team had completed 42 D-Rank missions, two each week day. One in the morning, followed by teamwork training -which worked wonders for Sasuke- after which came lunch and the second D-Rank. After the mission they'd spent two hours working on one of the three core shinobi skills. Monday and Wednesday were spent working on Taijutsu. Kakashi would create two clones and helped the Genin develop a Taijutsu style that would match their strengths -Ino began learning the Serpent Style, Sasuke learnt an ANBU style that focused on ending the fight as fast as possible, and Naruto was learning Minato's patented Hiraishin Style, though it was quite hard for the blond to do without knowing the Hiraishin himself. Tuesdays were for Ninjutsu, or gaining mastery over the few they had at their disposal at least. Thursday was Genjutsu day. Naruto worked on breaking Genjutsu, as he had nowhere near enough control to use them, while Ino and Sasuke learned new Genjutsu or worked on mastery of their existing repertoire. Fridays were spent on each genin's chosen specialisation. Ino had chosen two, medical ninjutsu and sensory abilities. Naruto had chosen infiltration, and Sasuke had chosen assassination.

"Alright Naruto. Let's go ask Hokage-sama if we can have a C-Rank." The Jonin said.

Naruto's eyes lit up. "REALLY‽"

"Yup"

"What are we waiting for then?" Ino spoke up, "We can finally leave the village!" She said, bouncing slightly.

Sasuke's eyes held excitement as well, which was a rare sight.

"Alright. We'll go right after lunch." Kakashi said, "Last one there is paying." He said, vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto smirked and pulled out three bento boxes, "I guess he's paying. Let's go to the park by the tower." He said, leading the way to the park.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Tazuna was a grumpy man. He berated Naruto and Ino for their blond hair and brashness -though the gray haired man was no better in the brashness department, especially when drunk- though he seemed to like Sasuke for whatever reason.

"I thought I hired some super ninja not a bunch of brats!" Tazuna slurred as he took another large drink from his bottle. He then pointed at Naruto, "I mean, look at this kid, he's barely at my waist! What could he do against another ninja?"

Kakashi furrowed his brow at this but said nothing, his genin would catch on.

"It's a C-Rank. We don't have to deal with other ninja." Sasuke huffed, "Unless you're lying to us." His eyes darkened.

Tazuna instantly sobered up at this, furthering Kakashi's doubts that this was a simple C-Rank. Things were never that easy for any of Team 7's incarnations.

"O… Of course I didn't lie. But there's always a chance that we meet other ninja isn't there?" The bridge builder stammered.

Ino and Naruto locked eyes and the Yamanaka heiress nodded.

"Let's just drop it. Who cares." Naruto said, "I'm plenty strong enough as is. I don't need to prove myself to a drunk."

Ino subtly took a step closer to Tazuna as they walked. Kakashi -who stood at the back- noticed this and sighed.

"Ino!" Kakashi said, voice noticeably stern, "Can you tell me why Tazuna hired ninja from the Leaf instead of from Wave?"

Ino stepped away from Tazuna, Kakashi had noticed her plan it seemed, "Because Wave doesn't have a ninja corps and we're the closest to them other than the Hidden Mist. But they're in the middle of a civil war currently."

"Very good." Kakashi said.

After another few minutes they walked by a puddle and Ino immediately turned to Kakashi, who nodded subtly. Ino stopped, causing the other two genin to stop as well.

A shout of pain erupted from Kakashi, who had been wrapped up in a chain and squeezed, leaving nothing left except for a splash of red liquid.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto fell to his knees. Standing there were two ninja dressed in black. The one on the left had unkempt shoulder length brown hair, a rebreather on his face, and a large metal gauntlet -presumably poisonous- on his right hand.

The other ninja had the same color hair, though his was straight as. He was wearing the same outfit, though his gauntlet was on the left hand. In between the two metal gauntlets was the chain that had killed Kakashi.

"NARUTO!" The blond was brought from his stupor by Ino's shout. He looked towards the two and knew that he had to dodge, but had no time to react as the chain slammed into his stomach less than a second later, knocking the breath out of him.

Before the two could wrap Naruto in the chain Sasuke acted, throwing a kunai into one of the links and digging it into the ground. Though this did cause the blades to be ripped from Naruto's stomach, which was left bleeding from the puncture holes.

The two missing-nin detached their claws and the one with shaggy hair ran towards Sasuke while the one with straight hair turned to Ino.

' _Hey, they think I'm down. Kyuubi should heal this in no time.'_ Naruto thought. As the second ninja reached Ino, Naruto leapt up and threw a kunai into the back of his head, dropping him.

Sasuke ducked under a jab from the large claw, sweeping his opponent's legs out from underneath as he did. The Uchiha then leapt upwards and quickly went through the hand seals for his family's signature jutsu, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" He shouted, exhaling a large ball of flames that engulfed the man, leaving a charred corpse.

Sasuke landed and couldn't move, he could only stare at his fallen opponent.

"I… I killed him." Sasuke managed to mutter, not reacting in the slightest when a firm hand squeezed his shoulder.

' _ **Well done Sasuke. You've taken one step closer to Itachi.'**_ The deep voice said. Sasuke ignored it. The shadow that spoke was nothing new, not since the night of the massacre. It was there always, most of the time silent and observing, but whenever Sasuke reached a new milestone in his shinobi career the voice spoke of Itachi.

"Good job Sasuke. I know how hard a first kill is." Kakashi's voice came, snapping Sasuke from his shock.

"He's dead…" Was all the prodigy managed.

"I'll give you a few minutes. But we'll need to go back to Konoha." Kakashi said, "Seems the parameters were wrong. This is at least a B-Rank mission now."

"Please!" Tazuna shouted, "I need your help. I didn't want to lie but Wave doesn't have enough money to pay for an A-Rank."

"It's policy I'm afraid. We'll have to turn back and head to Konoha." Kakashi said.

"Let's hear him out." Naruto said.

"Thank you." Tazuna said, "You see this man, Gato, he's take control of Wave country, completely stopping outgoing and incoming business by stopping us from fishing. This bridge I'm working on is our last chance. The country is living in a state of poverty, the dead pile up each day. Please… I have a family, my daughter and grandson need this bridge, my country needs this bridge."

"I'm going to help." Naruto said, "Kakashi-sensei you can bring the other two back if you want, but I won't go with you."

Kakashi sighed and summoned a small white dog, quickly scribbling a note and sending it off towards the Leaf.

"Let's get going then. Hopefully reinforcements arrive before it's too late." The silver haired jonin hoped for the first time that Gai wasn't on a mission.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

The next few days were uneventful. There were in Water Country now, and only two days from Wave. Kakashi hadn't received a response to his message yet, but they continued on.

"So we're gonna see the ocean huh?" Ino mused as they walked. There was a large lake to their left, with a sprawling forest on their left. Ino was on the left side of Tazuna with Naruto on the right. Sasuke walked ahead of them, eyes peeled for any enemies.

"DUCK!" Ino shouted, jumping and taking down both Tazuna and Naruto before rolling into a crouch with a kunai in either hand. A large blade was halfway into the tree with a large man on top of it. The man, obviously a ninja, was tall and muscular. His light gray skin and black hair stood out against the pristine white bandages he wore around his face like a scarf, hiding up to his nose. He wore a black one piece suit with a pair of cobalt leg warmers. On his head was a tilted forehead protector.

"Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist." Kakashi said, locking eyes with the ninja, "A-rank missing-nin from Kirigakure."

"Ahh, Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja." Zabuza said, stepping down from his sword and pulling it from the tree, causing the massive log to fall over with a crash.

"You three guard Tazuna, I'll handle him." Kakashi said, lifting his forehead protector and revealing a red eye with three black asterisks.

The beginning of the battle was faster than the genin could keep up with. Trees shook and clangs of metal on metal rang out through the clearing. Bursts of wind buffeted the genin and suddenly the lake exploded, a large pillar of water erupting from the center.

Then Zabuza was in front of the genin, blade flying through the air towards them.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, creating a dozen clones that jumped at the blade with kunai drawn, slowing it just enough for the blond to push Tazuna to the ground before the blade passed through every clone and ripped into his arm, slashing the bone in half.

Naruto screamed in pain, holding his left arm which hung on by tendrils of muscle. Sasuke jumped at Zabuza, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower!" A dozen fireballs slammed into the jonin and caused him to melt into a puddle of water.

"It was a water clone!" Ino shouted, kneeling over Naruto and healing his wound though progress was slow. She looked around and saw the real Zabuza holding Kakashi in a ball of water in the middle of the lake.

"Ino stop. Defend Tazuna." Naruto said, his eyes full of determination, "Teme, you and I are gonna save my brother." He said, crimson chakra swirling around his wound and closing it instantly.

Sasuke nodded, eyes not leaving the spot where the wound had been, not that you'd ever know for there wasn't even a mark. A shiver ran through the Uchiha as he realised how powerful the Kyuubi truly was. A career ending wound closed in less than a second, and not a scar left behind. How powerful was Minato that he faced that thing alone and managed to seal it? How strong was Itachi, who was likened to being on the same level.

With a nod from Naruto Ino ran through hand seals and connected the minds of all of Squad 7.

 _Alright Teme, here's the plan._ Naruto sent thoughts into Sasuke's mind and Kakashi smirked a bit, he raised a good ninja.

Naruto ran forwards, throwing shuriken and kunai towards Zabuza, who raised a wall of water to block them.

Sasuke shot off two consecutive fireballs, creating a wall of steam.

Suddenly Zabuza's eyes widened and he ducked, a windmill shuriken zooming passed his face, out the corner of his eye he saw a second shuriken and jumped over it. He turned to the genin and laughed. "It was a good try, would've gotten a lesser ninja." He called out. Then he noticed Naruto wasn't there. His eyes widened and he ducked, his hand leaving the water prison that held Kakashi as a kick split the air over his head.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Kakashi shouted, a large fireball slamming into Zabuza's side and sending him flying away, skidding onto the field near Ino and Sasuke.

Sasuke threw two kunai at the rolling ninja, though they were blocked by two needles that flew from the nearby brush. The Uchiha spun to look at the thrower and found a girl wearing a blue kimono and a Mist-Hunter ninja mask.

"Shit. Naruto! Kakashi-sensei! We have an issue." Sasuke shouted.

The two were beside Sasuke in a second, the three of them facing the two Mist-ninja.

"I wish you no harm. Just allow me to take Zabuza away." The girl said.

"Not gonna happen." Kakashi said, "He's a dangerous opponent I'd rather not deal with later."

The girl shook her head, "I will ask one more time." She said, "I came here to tell my master that we are no longer to eliminate the bridge builder."

"What do you mean?" Zabuza questioned the masked ninja.

"Gato has hired another ninja to eliminate us. His price is much lower than ours apparently."

"Dammit, Haku how did you figure this out?" Zabuza asked.

"I overheard Gato speaking with the other hired nin." Haku responded.

Zabuza growled, "Did he look familiar?"

Haku hung her head, "No, but apparently he is an S-Rank missing-nin."

Zabuza stood up, "There aren't too many S-Rankers, and none that I know of who'll go for a low price without some ulterior motive." He turned to Kakashi, "Well, I have no reason to fight you now. If you'd like to continue though I wouldn't mind slicing you up."

Kakashi waved his hand, "Nah I think I'm ok. But if you'd like to help us defend the bridge builder here I'm sure he wouldn't mind paying you for your troubles."

Tazuna paled at this while Ino and Naruto grinned.

A sly expression crossed Zabuza's face, "I wouldn't mind."

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

 _So this chapter is finally done. Took a long long time I know but stuff happens. Got into a relationship and moved out and then twice more and now I'm finally in a stable home again so yay! Anyways hopefully there'll be more uploads faster. I know I said I'd upload it arc by arc but this way you guys will actually get to read something. I haven't abandoned any of my other stories either for anyone who's reading them, I just haven't had a lot of time to work on them. Next upload will probably be for my Gohan; Chosen of the Dragon God story so look forward to that._


	5. Awakening - 2

The journey to Wave after Zabuza joined them was easy going. Haku was a rather pretty girl with straight black hair and a kind face, though it was slightly emotionless at times.

They reached Tazuna's home and met his daughter Tsunami, a beautiful woman of thirty something with straight black hair, and grandson Inari, an eight year old boy whose shaggy black hair was hidden by a bucket hat.

The night they arrived while Tsunami was making dinner Inari confronted the Leaf ninja, shouting at them that they were stupid for going against Gato and then running off.

"What's his problem?" Sasuke asked, "He should be happy that we're helping his village."

"Gato killed his father." Tsunami said, "Well, adopted father. Kaiza was a man who saved Inari from drowning. When Inari brought him home it was love at first sight. He was Inari's biggest role model, but when Gato arrived and began his takeover Kaiza stood up for the village, and had his arms cut off in front of everybody. Gato then had him killed." Tsunami had tears in her eyes, "Inari hasn't been the same since."

Naruto looked down, "I get it." He stood up and followed after the young boy.

Tsunami went to stop him but Haku stood up, "I'll go get him. Please stay and enjoy your food." She said, following after Naruto.

Kakashi nodded at her and Tsunami sat down.

"Trust them, they know what they're doing." He said.

Naruto opened up the door to Inari's room, he saw the boy crying on the bed.

"Hey." The blond walked up to the bed and sat down beside him, placing a hand on his back, "I don't know what it's like to lose a father, but I do know that how you're acting wouldn't make yours proud."

"What do you know!" Inari shouted at Naruto, turning to face him.

"My dad died sacrificing himself to defeat a demon fox. On the day I was born." Naruto said, "I never knew him or my mother, it was Kakashi who raised me. But every day I wake up and decide to make them proud by doing at least one thing that they would do." He jammed his thumb into his chest, "That's why I decided to become a ninja. And why I'm going to be Hokage -the leader of my village."

Inari's tears stopped.

"Yes. What Naruto says is true. You're father wouldn't be proud of the person you've become." Haku's voice came from the doorway. She stepped into the room and closed the door, "He died protecting what was precious to him, and here you -his legacy- are crying like a baby instead of honouring him."

Inari shot up and jumped towards Haku, but was grabbed by Naruto.

"Calm down, she's not trying to be mean." He said.

"As I was saying" Haku continued, "You should be following his example. Stand up for your village, don't give in to Gato's tyranny."

Inari was left alone as the two ninja went back to the dining room to eat.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Kakashi watched over Tazuna's efforts to build the bridge. On a beach about two kilometers away Zabuza was training the genin, teaching them water walking.

"Look brat, you're not using enough chakra!" He yelled at Ino, "And you, you aren't keeping your chakra levels stable!" He shouted towards Sasuke.

Suddenly there was an eruption of water and Naruto flew into the air, "Hey dummy, way too much chakra!" He shouted. "Honestly how'd I get stuck with this job?"

"It's because you aren't trustworthy enough to watch Tazuna." Haku chimed in, a strange smile on her face.

Zabuza grunted and walked off.

An hour passed and Ino was finally able to walk on water near perfectly. Sasuke and Naruto were both coming along incredibly well also, able to walk on water while concentrating.

"The brats aren't too bad." Zabuza mused to himself. Haku tilted her head slightly and smiled.

 _Damn Teme, I'm gonna get this before him!_ Naruto thought to himself, glaring at Sasuke, who was doing better than he was.

Sasuke in turn glared at Naruto _He's doing well. It's strange that a non-Uchiha can keep up with me. He is the son of a Hokage though so I guess it's not impossible but he won't get it before I do! Ino has much less chakra so it's understandable but I can't lose to Naruto._

Zabuza grinned as he watched wach genin push themselves to start running on the water, and was surprised when neither of them fell through or blasted upwards but were running perfectly.

Suddenly there was a clash of steel as two kunai slammed into each other, Naruto on one side while Sasuke was on the other. Water rippled under them as they jumped back, with Naruto plunging one of his feet into the water, before using his other foot to pull himself up.

Naruto spun three hand signs, _Dragon Tiger Hare_ "Water Style: Raging Waves!" Naruto spat out a stream of water towards Sasuke.

 _Kid's got some power behind that. Probably not used to using Water Style jutsu around a large source._ "Haku!" Zabuza shouted at his protege.

"Yes!" Haku slammed her hands onto the water, "Ice Style: Frozen Wall!" The water underneath Haku's hands froze instantly. The ice spread out towards the boys and rose up into a wall, blocking Naruto's stream, though it did manage to drill into it a bit.

 _Impressive, managing to break Haku's ice, even a little bit, is impressive. I've met chunin who couldn't even chip it._ "That's enough!" Zabuza shouted, "I didn't agree to train some brats. I'm training ninja, weapons! You are here to be sharpened not tested!" He spun around his large sword, slamming it down onto the ground, creating a large crater a foot away.

 _Subtle use of Earth Style to scare us, not gonna work unfortunately._ Sasuke thought to himself.

Naruto walked back to the beach, "I don't get the point of this. We should be learning how to fight more, not walk on water!"

Zabuza slapped Naruto away, sending the blond flying back onto the water. Sasuke moved to catch him but with a growl Naruto blasted chakra from his hand to flip himself, landing on the water with both feet and sliding back another ten feet.

Naruto's pupils slit and he growled, "Sasuke, Ino, how's about we show Zabuza just how much we've been sharpened?" He asked, voice slightly deeper than usual. A subtle darkness wrapped around him like a shadowy cloak. The water underneath him turned from a beautiful clear to an eerie dark blue

"I'm not sure about this Naruto, why don't you calm down a bit?" Ino asked, moving towards her longtime friend hesitantly. She had only seen him like this once before, when Kakashi hadn't returned from a mission on time.

* * *

 **FLASHBACK START**

 _A nine year old Ino ran from the academy doors as soon as the last bell rang. Naruto hadn't shown up in three days now and she was worried. Ino ran all the way to the other side of Konoha, towards Kakashi's apartment. It took her exactly fifteen minutes to reach her friend's house. When she got there she knocked and waited._

 _Nothing._

 _ **KNOCK KNOCK**_

 _Nothing._

 _ **KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**_

 _Nothing._

 _Ino then took a couple steps back and ran at the door, slamming her shoulder into it as hard as she could, but then bouncing off and skidding backwards. She hit the ground with a shout of pain._

" _Ino?" Choji was walking by with Shikamaru._

" _Choji, Shika, I need help." Ino was crying, "I was worried about Naruto because he hadn't been at school so I came here and I knocked andhedidn'tanserandsoItriedtobreakthedoorbutnowI'mreallyhurtandhe'snotansweringandI'mscaredthatsomethinghappenedtohimsocanyoupleasehelpme!" She cried._

 _Shikamaru went and put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry. We came here for the same reason. Luckily Choji has started to learn his clan jutsu." Shikamaru nodded at Choji who closed his bag of chips and walked towards the door._

 _The tubby boy pulled his arm back and opened his eyes wide, revealing the chestnut coloring, "PARTIAL EXPANSION JUTSU!" He shouted as he swung his fist towards the door, his entire arm blowing up to three times its original size, sending the door flying into the house and hitting the far wall._

 _Shikamaru stood up and patted Ino's shoulder, walking up to Choji and doing the same, "Door's open." He said, walking in with the other two following him._

 _As soon as they passed the threshold however Ino fell to her knees, a dark presence overwhelming her. Her head began to pound and she cried out in pain._

" _ **What do you want?"**_ _A voice came from somewhere in the house._

" _Naruto?" Shikamaru asked as Choji went to comfort Ino, "It's us, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino. We came to check up on you."_

" _ **Leave."**_ _The voice said. Naruto stepped to the edge of the darkness, revealing a snarling face. His whisker marks were darker, his eyes were slit and instead of blue were a deep crimson, without hesitation he roared_ " _ **I SAID LEAVE!"**_ _His voice seemed to have presence, as the entrance way shook violently._

 _Shikamaru placed his hands in a seal, "Naruto, what's wrong?" He asked, purposely leaving out the 'with you' from the sentence, hoping to not upset his friend._

" _Naruto whatever you're doing stop. It's hurting Ino!" Choji shouted._

 _Naruto's eyes slowly turned blue again as the red seemed to seep into his pupils. His whisker marks returned to normal and the darkness seemed lighter. The pressure that Ino felt was lifted slightly._

" _Naruto what's wrong?" Ino asked, slowly standing up and cautiously making her way towards Naruto._

" _Kakashi hasn't come back yet. He was supposed to be back last week." Naruto said, "Anko told me not to expect anything good."_

 _Ino ran forwards and wrapped her arms around her friend, "Oh Naruto." She cried._

 _Shikamaru and Choji stood and watched as the entire house lit up while Ino held Naruto. His pupils returned to normal._

 _The blond wrapped his arms around Ino and cried._

 **FLASHBACK END**

* * *

"Fine I'll do it myself." Naruto growled, running forwards, he put so much chakra into each step that all the water underneath him flew upwards, "I've had enough of your SHITTY ATTITUDE **ZABUZA!"** He roared, his whisker marks darkening.

Kakashi turned towards his adopted brother as he felt the ominous presence from that day nearly thirteen days ago. He quickly made a shadow clone and suddenly appeared in front of Naruto, kicking the twelve year old in the face and sending him skidding away.

"You three go guard the bridge builder." Kakashi ordered, pointing to Haku, Ino, and Sasuke. "Zabuza you're with me." Everyone nodded except Zabuza.

"I can take the brat myself." Zabuza said.

"No you can't." Kakashi turned to him, "He's tapping into the Nine-tails."

Zabuza's eyes widened, "That brat?"

Kakashi was about to say something but was forced to jump away as Naruto's fist slammed into the water underneath, creating a large wave on all sides.

 _Rat Boar Bird_ "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Zabuza shouted, shaping the waves into four large serpentine dragons which wrapped around Naruto, squeezing him.

 _I don't wanna kill him but he needs to be subdued, he's too likely to lose control right now._ Kakashi grabbed his right wrist and ran forwards, grabbing one of the water dragons he shouted, "Electric Jolt!" and send a small burst of electricity through the four dragons, shocking Naruto.

A roar erupted from Naruto's throat as a wave of chakra poured out of him, eviscerating Zabuza's dragons.

 _What's making him like this?_ Kakashi wondered, Naruto was hot-headed yes and he did let his temper go easily, but he wasn't one to get frustrated with teachers when they stopped him from doing something.

 _My dragons!_ Zabuza's eyes widened. Haku, a bonafide Jonin level ninja, had never managed to stop even one of his Water Dragons, yet this green Genin managed to destroy four with a shout. Even with a Tailed-Beast power-up that was impressive.

" **Really Kakashi, you're going to try me?"** Naruto growled out, appearing before Kakashi and swung with a kick, though Kakashi blocked it, not without a wince of pain however.

"Naruto, I know you're in there!" Kakashi said, grabbing Naruto's leg and throwing the boy upwards, kicking at him and sending him skidding along the water's surface for a good thirty feet.

"Water Style: Great Waterfall Jutsu!" Zabuza shouted, a blue aura of chakra around him as he did, suddenly a large portion of nearby water was spinning, like a sideways cyclone, and propelled itself towards Naruto.

Naruto inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. The water underneath him was getting choppy and he was liable to lose his balance, " **Wind Style: Vulpine Shout!"** Naruto exhaled a large quantity of wind, crashing into the large cyclone the two techniques created a huge explosion, sending the water in a four direction tidal wave.

Kakashi rushed to catch Naruto as Zabuza clasped his hands together, willing the water to calm itself, his blue shroud of chakra growing larger and larger as he did.

Kakashi caught Naruto, who was no longer under the Kyuubi's control. _I really hope reinforcements arrive soon._

He looked towards the water and saw that Zabuza had managed to calm it, though the man looked strained.

"Zabuza, go get some rest. I'll send Sasuke to help you guard Tsunami and Inari now that Naruto's Shadow Clones are dispelled." Kakashi said.

Zabuza didn't have the energy to argue so he just flipped Kakashi off.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

"That wasn't smart." A man in a black robe adorned with red clouds said, "I asked for proof that Namikaze was a Jinchuuriki, not for him to nearly die in a fight with two Jonin."

The other man, who was wearing a black mask with two vertical green stripes over the eyes, stepped back, "I proved that the brat was a demon, that's what you asked, now you do your part and kill him."

The man in the robe turned around and left the dark room, "Don't worry. I planned to take out Namikaze Naruto anyways. He could be a threat."

As the door closed the masked man fell to his knees, a slash appeared on his throat, blood pooled out.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

A couple days passed, Naruto and Sasuke had both mastered the water walking exercise and Ino had been training in taijutsu with Haku. Zabuza was still suffering from chakra exhaustion and resting while looking after Tsunami and Inari.

"Naruto, Sasuke, come and guard Tazuna!" Kakashi yelled from the bridge to the water below.

Naruto grumbled something under his breath and ran up one of the legs of the bridge. Sasuke walked up calmly.

"I'll be back soon, just need to investigate something. If anything happens just take Tazuna and run. Make sure Ino and Haku are with you." The jonin said before flashing away.

"Man I wanna learn the Shunshin jutsu-ttebayo!" Naruto shouted.

"Dobe, make some Shadow Clones." Sasuke ordered.

"Why should I listen to you?" Naruto asked, "I'm clearly team leader so I call the shots."

Ino suddenly appeared on the bridge, Haku following suit, "Naruto listen to Sasuke." His blonde friend said, "I sense four chakra signatures, one of them rivals Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto immediately put his business face on, crossing his fingers and creating thirty Shadow Clones, "Sasuke, you and Ino take Tazuna and run. Haku you're with me." He said, drawing a kunai in either hand.

"YOSH!" A boy Naruto's age appeared on the bridge, sweat dripping down from his, abnormally large caterpillar shaped, eyebrows. His black hair was styled in a bowl cut and he was wearing a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers and a red Leaf forehead protector around his waist. "I BEAT GAI-SENSEI TO THE BRIDGE!"

"Gai-sensei?" Naruto asked himself, "You mean Might Gai? Leaf Jonin?"

The boy turned to him, "Yes, the youthful Gai-sensei! I am a member of his Genin squad, team nine."

"LEE!" A female voice shouted, she appeared on the bridge just after shouting at Lee. She had brown hair tied in two buns and brown eyes. She was wearing a qipao blouse and blue pants. Her blue forehead protector matched her sandals. There was a large pouch on her right thigh. "Gai-sensei told us that there could be enemy ninja."

Lee laughed, "Oh Tenten, these are fellow Leaf-nin. Why would I be worried?"

The girl, Tenten, slammed her face into her hands, "Why did I get stuck with him?"

Suddenly two more ninja appeared, one of them looked like a grown up Lee except he was wearing a flak jacket. The other was a Hyuuga, as evident by his colorless eyes. His black hair went down to his mid-back. He wore a beige sleeveless coat and black pants. His right arm and leg were covered with bandages. His black forehead protector had two straps hanging off the sides to frame his face.

"Gai-sensei!" Naruto greeted the large man, "I didn't know you guys were coming."

"Ah Naruto!" Gai greeted the boy by clasping his shoulder, "Kakashi asked for help from a more experienced squad so here we are."

 _The Hyuuga has to be Hinata's cousin Neji, she's told me a lot about him. Apparently he's really strong._ Ino thought, "We could use your help actually, apparently Gato hired an S-Rank missing-nin to take out Tazuna before he finishes the bridge. It's out mission to guard him until then." Ino told the jonin.

"YOSH!" Gai shouted, "This is a most youthful mission, you have the full support of Team Gai!"

"GAI-SENSEI YOU'RE SO COOL!" Lee shouted.


	6. Awakening - 3

Kakashi ran from the bridge. He picked up on Gai's scent and knew that his rival would get there before anything bad could happen. He had also picked up on another scent however, a scent he hadn't smelt in years. The scent of Itachi Uchiha.

 _I haven't heard anything about Itachi since he murdered his clan. I knew he was troubled in ANBU but I never expected that. Such a waste._

Kakashi sped towards Itachi's scent, but he didn't notice that it was heading towards him until it was too late.

 _Damn, he's good at that!_ Kakashi cursed himself for teaching Itachi that specific wind style jutsu.

"Lightning Blade!" Kakashi shouted, covering his hand in lightning as he ran towards Itachi, shattering the ground underneath him. Within seconds Kakashi saw his old ANBU teammate. The black haired Uchiha was running forwards with a kunai in either hand, Leaf headband scratched through and black cloak billowing. The red clouds adorning it shimmered, changing color rapidly.

 _His Genjutsu won't work that easily_ Kakashi blinked, the clouds returning to red. Kakashi met Itachi in a clash of lightning and metal, Itachi's kunai were glowing orange, protecting the metal from the electricity and pushing Kakashi back.

"Kakashi, it's been a while." Itachi said, slashing both blades and sending the silver haired ninja flying.

Kakashi landed, lightning fading from his hand as he skid along the ground, "I could say the same to you, Itachi." He flipped his hands and kunai appeared in them. "I hope you've been practicing."

The two met in a clash of blue and orange glowing kunai, waves of heat shimmered around Itachi as lightning crackled around Kakashi. Clangs rang out around the middle of the small town.

"Kisame, go ahead to the bridge." Itachi said.

"You got it." A deep voice said, it came from a blue skinned man with gills on his face and sharp teeth. He had a Hidden Mist headband on, though it too was scratched through the middle. He wore the same cloak as Itachi.

Kisame then took off.

 _Damn!_ Kakashi began slashing faster, hoping to get a lucky hit on the clearly superior shinobi.

"Kakashi, I'll see you at the bridge." Itachi said, inhaling and then suddenly exhaled a large gust of wind, sending Kakashi flying away.

 _Crap_ Kakashi pulled himself out of the debris from the house he had crashed through. He dropped a large wad of ryo on the ground _Hopefully that'll cover the damage._

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

As Naruto was becoming familiar with Gai's team, Kisame appeared, pulling a large sword from seemingly nowhere.

"Now where is that Jinchuuriki?" Kisame's voice rang out, alerting the two teams to his presence.

"Everyone step back" Gai stepped forward, "Who are you?"

"I'm Kisame Hoshigaki." Kisame said, "Monster of the Hidden Mist." Kisame grinned, "And I'm here for Namikaze." He spun his bandaged sword, unwrapping it as he did, revealing a crude serrated, something.

Gai's eyes widened, "Samehada!" The green clad jonin tapped his hips, unsealing a pair of nunchucks, "Everyone behind me!"

Gai spun the nunchucks, catching the downward slash of Kisame's sword with the chain and lashing out with a kick, sending Kisame towards the edge of the bridge. Gai seemed to disappear, somehow in front of Kisame and already kicking him high into the sky, knocking the missing-nin into the sky. Gai then appeared in the air above Kisame and axe-kicked the large man into the bridge, sending him crashing through to the water below.

"Naruto, I'm leaving you in charge. Bring Tazuna to a secure area, my team will go with you." Gai shouted as Kisame launched himself back onto the bridge.

"You're pretty good, I'll enjoy slicing you up." Kisame grinned.

"I'll stay and help your Jonin." Haku said, putting her mask on and creating senbon from nothing.

"You'll just get in his way Haku, plus you would be super helpful in securing an area." Naruto said, "Gai-sensei can handle himself. Believe me."

Haku's senbon disappeared, "Fine." She complied, running back to land. Lee picked up Tazuna and followed along with the rest of the genin. They were stopped however, by a rather imposing figure.

"So you're on Naruto's team eh little brother?" Itachi asked, peering down at the group of genin. He looked towards Haku, "And you must be Zabuza's apprentice, the Ice Style user." He clicked his tongue, "It'll be a waste to have to kill you." He said, "But I must accomplish my mission." Suddenly Haku was sent flying, Itachi standing where she was a moment before, putting his leg to the ground.

"ITACHI!" Kakashi's voice rang out, he appeared in the air beside his old ally, kicking Itachi in the face and sending him skidding along the ground towards the bridge. "Naruto, get everyone out of here, NOW!" Kakashi ordered. "Tell Zabuza to come to the bridge, I'll need his help."

Itachi slammed a knee into Kakashi as he was yelling at the genin, "Don't forget about me, Hatake."

Kakashi pulled down his mask as he slid back, revealing his Sharingan, "I won't. I'll go all out on you Itachi!" Kakashi spun through hand seals "Water Style: Torrent Drill Jutsu!" water condensed around Kakashi, forming into a series of drills that flew towards Itachi.

"Earth Style: Stone Wall Jutsu!" Itachi slammed a hand onto the ground, creating a wall of stone that absorbed the drills. With his other hand he made a couple hand seals, "Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!" Itachi exhaled a dozen balls of wind towards Kakashi, who was rushing the black haired ninja.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Kakashi shouted, exhaling a ball of flames that met the air bullets in a stalemate. Kakashi then engaged Itachi in a bout of taijutsu, where they were evenly matched.

"Water Style: Raging Waves Jutsu!" Naruto's voice rang out.

"Wind Style: Air Bullets!" Another Naruto.

"Wind Style: Devastation!" A third Naruto called out.

Kakashi jumped back, leaving Itachi to get hit by a pressurised stream of water and a dozen bullets of wind that were being pushed by gale-force winds. Itachi stumbled back and cursed, flicking three shuriken and dispelling all three of the clones.

"You're student is quite adept at both stealth and Shadow Clones Kakashi." Itachi said, "You taught him well. I thought you would slip up after Minato's death."

"It was Naruto that helped me stay sane. He taught me as much as I taught him." Kakashi said, "Now how's about we call this a draw and you leave?"

"Unfortunately I have to capture Naruto before he becomes too powerful." Itachi said, "He's growing quickly and it'll make my job much harder later on if I don't take him now."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and jumped to the side as he saw Gai's form fly by, holding a blue skinned man in his hands. A blue aura surrounded Gai as he flew by.

"Your partner is as good as dead, Gai's opened the Gate of Wonder." Kakashi said.

"You called?" Zabuza asked, appearing beside Kakashi in a blur of mist. "Itachi Uchiha, that's considerate of you Kakashi, I've wanted to cut him for a while."

Itachi readied himself as Zabuza slashed downwards toward his face, blocking the massive blade with a single kunai, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Itachi bellowed out an enormous fireball that engulfed Zabuza, leaving deep scorch marks along the man's torso. A kunai was tossed towards Zabuza's chest, however it was stopped by a wall of ice.

Haku stood with Team 7 behind her. She held a sword made from ice in either hand, "I won't forgive you for hurting my precious person." Haku said, tears along her eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm sorry. Gai's team is protecting Tazuna and his family. We'll help you here." Ino said.

"ITACHI!" Sasuke shouted, filled with rage. He ran at his older brother, "I'LL AVENGE MY CLAN!" Suddenly Sasuke's fists and feet erupted in electricity, "Lightning Style: Lightning Fists Jutsu!" He shouted. He jumped and kicked at Itachi's face, missing by a hair. Itachi punched Sasuke in the chest, sending him flying away.

"Wind Style: Air Bullets!" Naruto shouted.

"Thorn Bed Jutsu!" Ino shouted, creating a circle of thorns around Itachi, Sasuke, and Haku. Naruto's air bullets slammed into the distracted Itachi and pushed him back, a spike stabbing into his foot.

" _Ino, once he's got a second foot stuck use part 2!"_ Naruto said through their mental link. Ino nodded.

"Ice Style: Dancing Swallows!" Haku shouted, creating five birds from ice and sending them towards Itachi, who palmed two kunai and cut through them easily. He pulled his foot from the spike and rushed Haku, though Kakashi appeared before him and kicked upwards, knocking Itachi into the air.

"Lightning Tiger's Kick!" Sasuke shouted from above Itachi. He kicked with his lightning infused feet, leaving deep cuts in Itachi.

Sasuke landed outside the ring of spikes, panting for air as his jutsu deactivated. Itachi landed on his feet, blocking Haku's ice blades with invisible blades of wind he created.

Itachi kicked Haku away, blitzing behind her and slashing her, leaving a deep gash in her back as she fell unconscious.

"HAKU!" Naruto shouted.

"Lightning Style" Lightning Beast Tracking Fang!" Kakashi shot two wolves made of lightning towards Itachi.

"Wind Style: Devastation!" Itachi waved a hand, casually dispersing Kakashi's wolves and sending the jonin flying.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto ran to help his brother figure. " _INO STAGE 2 NOW!"_ He sent through their link.

Ino nodded and made another hand seal, "Thorn Launching Jutsu!" She shouted. Chakra enveloped the thorns she had made prior as they launched themselves towards Itachi, who used is invisible blades to block as many as he could, though some still got through his guard and stabbed into him.

Naruto reached Kakashi, who was unconscious but still alive.

Itachi appeared in front of Naruto and booted him in the face, "I'm going to take you with me now. I'm not putting up with this anymore." He grabbed the unconscious Naruto and slung him over his shoulder, strolling away. As he walked he bit his thumb and pressed the blood to a ring he wore on his right ring finger. A crow appeared, "Go and tell Kisame that I'm leaving now."

"PUT HIM DOWN!" Sasuke screamed, his eyes flashing red as a Stage 2 Sharingan appeared in either eye. He appeared in front of Itachi, slamming a foot into his brother's gut and grabbing Naruto before he jumped back. "Naruto wake up!" He growled, palming two kunai and running towards Itachi.

Sasuke slashed like a mad man, but Itachi weaved through each slash like it was nothing.

Ino ran to Haku's side, her hands glowing green as she tried her hardest to close her fellow kunoichi's wounds. "Come on Haku pull through." She grunted.

Naruto stirred as he saw Itachi slam a knee into Sasuke's face and break the boy's wrist in one fluid movement. He then threw his brother to the side, hitting Ino with the living projectile and interrupting her healing jutsu.

"SASUKE!" Naruto growled as red chakra began to seep out from his pores. His nails grew and his eyes became red.

Itachi quickly rushed the boy, appearing behind him and knocking him out with an elbow to the head.

Just as the elder Uchiha went to grab Naruto once again the boy rose. His eyes were now black and his hair a blood red color. He looked at himself, " **So this is a human body."** he squeezed his fists and looked at Itachi, " **I'll practice on you!"** The demon controlling Naruto rushed forwards, easily blitzing Itachi and kneeing the man in the chest, causing him to cough up blood.

' _I guess I can't hold back any longer'_ Itachi told himself as he released his chakra. "AMATERASU!" He shouted, black flames shrouded Naruto's form. ' _I hope this doesn't kill him'_

" **Dark Style: Aura!"** The demon shouted, the Amaterasu flames seemed to coalesce into a black aura around the boy, " **You think I, the great Kyuubi no Yoko, Kurama - King of Foxes, will be hurt by your weak black flames?"** The demon, his name revealed to be Kurama, asked mockingly, " **I will show you what a true demonic flame is! Dark Fire Style: Hellfire Bullets!"** Kurama shouted, creating seven green balls of flames around his outstretched finger and fired them towards Itachi.

Itachi's eyes widened as he dodged the seven small fireballs. They had burnt him even though they didn't touch him. "Tsukuyomi!" He shouted, his strangely shaped Sharingan spun as he made eye contact with Kurama.

 _ **Naruto's body was hung up on a cross as Itachi stood in front of him. Itachi stabbed Kurama. "I control this world." The Uchiha said. Kurama just laughed as nine blood red tails grew from his back and slapped Itachi away.**_

" _ **I CONTROL EVERYTHING!" Kurama laughed as the genjutsu shattered.**_

" **Well that was interesting."** Kurama picked at his nails, " **If you were trying harder or had a bit more chakra I wouldn't have been able to do anything. As it is however you'll be dying now. Goodbye Itachi Uchiha. Dark Style: Shadow Shape - Fangs of the Fox."** Kurama turned his black aura into twin hunting daggers. " **Goodbye Uchiha."**

As Kurama ran towards Itachi, the Uchiha shook his head, "That aura was your best defense fox! AMATERASU!" The black flames engulfed Kurama, causing him to scream out in pain. "Tsukuyomi!" Itachi called out, dispersing his black flames and trapping the demon in his genjutsu world. "Now experience three days of torture."

A few seconds passed as the red seemed to recede into Naruto's head, his eyes now purple and his hair orange. His whisker marks were still darkened and his nails and teeth still sharp.

"I'm impressed that you are still standing Naruto." Itachi said, "You were moving almost as fast as your father."

"Thanks for waking me up Itachi." Naruto grunted, his voice was ragged, "Now I can take you out myself instead of letting that stupid fox do it."

"Naruto, let me help." Sasuke stood beside his teammate, his right arm hanging low and a kunai in his left hand, "You aren't strong enough alone."

Naruto smirked, "Ino, how's Haku?" He asked, not taking his eyes off of Itachi, who stood there watching.

"She's stable, it all depends on her now." Ino shouted.

"Good, can you go make sure Zabuza is ok?" Naruto asked, "We might need his help."

Ino nodded, "I guess." she ran over to the missing-nin and her hands began to glow.

' _ **Brat, take my chakra again!'**_ Naruto heard a guttural voice in his head, ' _ **I wanna eat this Uchiha so badly I'll lend you as much power as you want!'**_

' _I'm ok thanks. I'll take him myself.'_ Naruto thought, shaking the kyuubi out of his head, "Ready Sasu-teme?" he asked Sasuke.

Sasuke grunted, "Let's do it dobe." they bumped knuckles and rushed the weakened Itachi. Sasuke activated his Shocking Hands jutsu and Naruto made three Shadow Clones.

Naruto landed will his three clones and the four of them all lashed out at Itachi, each of them performing a different combination. One kicked high, another low, one punched at his solar plexus, and the real Naruto stabbed a kunai towards his spine. Sasuke was above him, coming down with an ax kick and holding a ball of lightning in his good hand.

Itachi's Sharingan spun, the strange shape glowing as an orange shell of chakra pushed Naruto away and nearly broke Sasuke's leg as the genin bounced off.

"This is Susanoo." Itachi said, "The Sharingan's most powerful ability." the large construct raised an arm, a large blade sprouted in its hand, "And this is my Totsuka Blade, a blade which will seal anything it hits." the sword swung towards Naruto.

"KAMUI!" Kakashi's voice rang out. His Sharingan appeared similar to Itachi's with a different shape but just as strange. A rippled appeared in the space around Itachi's Susanoo, destroying the arm that held the sword.

"A Mangekyo Sharingan Kakashi? Amazing." Itachi said, "To think that the eye of another could evolve in a non-Uchiha's hands. But how good are you with it?"

"I would think I'm better than you'd think, considering my eyes aren't bleeding." Kakashi said, his eyes showing the smirk that his mask hid.

Itachi cursed under his breath, "I will retreat for now I suppose." Itachi said, his body turning to crows, leaving no trace behind.

"Well, that was fortunate." Kakashi said as he collapsed.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto ran over to him, but fell half way, smashing his face into the concrete.

"Kakashi-sensei! Naruto!" Ino shouted. She ran to them, forgetting about Zabuza as she slid along the ground to check on her best friend. Naruto's nose was broken, and he was missing a tooth. He was beaten up and burnt all over.

"Naruto…" Ino began to cry. Sasuke hobbled over, putting his good hand on her shoulder.

"He'll be ok." Sasuke said, "He has that damned fox healing him. Just give him some time." Sasuke then walked to Kakashi, covering his Sharingan. "Thank you sensei." Sasuke smiled, "I have to get stronger now, to avenge my clan."

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

A few weeks passed and everything was peaceful as the bridge was being rebuild. Zabuza and Haku took their leave, thanking the group for everything and waving Tazuna's fee.

Naruto helped rebuild the bridge, using his clones he moved things along greatly. Sasuke and Ino trained with Gai's squad while Kakashi recovered from using the Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Yes Sasuke, again!" Gai shouted as Sasuke sparred with Lee, "Show your youth! You too Lee!"

Lee was currently slamming into Sasuke from every side, throwing the junior genin around almost effortlessly.

"Sasuke you are good, a true genius, but I too am a genius, a genius of hard work!" Lee shouted as he kneed Sasuke in the gut, knocking him high into the air. Lee jumped, ax kicking Sasuke into the ground.

"Lee is the winner!" Gai shouted. "Great job my student!" Gai shouted, tapping Lee on the shoulder, "You did great as well Sasuke, not many fresh genin can keep up with Lee for that long in a taijutsu spar."

"Yosh, you did wonderfully Sasuke, I hope to spar with you again soon." Lee said.

"Yeah, me too." Sasuke said with a pant as he stood up, "Next time it'll be different though, I'll be faster than you."

Lee nodded, "I look forward to it."

Ino was sparring with Tenten, trying out a new clan technique known as the Astral Clone Jutsu. A jutsu which creates clones that only the enemy can see, effectively creating the perfect diversion for Ino to sneak up and assassinate her opponent. So far Ino had not managed to erase her presence from the jutsu, so Tenten kept tagging her with shuriken.

"Damn, when will I get it?" Ino shouted in frustration.

"Hey don't worry too much about it. You've only been practicing for a week now, it's not like you're expected to master it." Tenten reassured her, "Why don't we try it's other uses, like using them to collect and transfer information?"

Ino nodded, "Okay I could do that I guess." Ino said, "Astral Clone Jutsu!" She shouted. It appeared as if nothing happened but in reality there were three intangible and invisible clones of Ino.

 _And there's the land of waves arc! Sorry it took so long again, not sure when I'll update next but I haven't abandoned this story. My break from Fanfiction is mostly over now, I've been working on each story more and more lately, whether it be planning or writing I've finally mostly gotten my groove back so hopefully I'll keep it this time. Thanks for reading._

 _just for those who are curious I've decided to push back Naruto's Kekkei Genkai for now, I felt the Land of Waves is just too cliche. It'll be soon though don't worry._


	7. Pre-Chunin Exams!

**Return From Wave Chapter 1!**

 **Naruto's Seventh Birthday!**

Both teams left The Land of Waves two days after the bridge was completed. Tazuna had decided to name the bridge after Naruto, stating that the boy was a shining beacon, and as he grew in fame so would the bridge. Inari had decided to follow in Tazuna's footsteps and become a bridge builder.

"Naruto you truly are youthful!" Gai said as the blond told the story of his fight against Itachi again. He didn't share everything, leaving out the part where he was possessed by the Kyuubi. He wanted to keep that as private as possible for now.

Ino groaned, "Naruto you've told that story like, twelve times today. Think of a better one please."

Sasuke was sharpening his father's kunai, using the method Kakashi had taught him. "Kakashi, is there anyone in the village who knows how to use a sword? The extra reach of the blade would be useful." he asked the white haired jonin.

The man looked up from his orange book, his one eye glancing over Sasuke quickly before flitting back towards the page, "I could teach you some time I suppose. And it's Kakashi-sensei to you."

"I also need to work on my genjutsu, Itachi is too good at it." Sasuke said.

"Maa maa, don't worry so much about Itachi, you'll get to his level soon enough." Kakashi said with a wave, "Besides, he has the Mangekyo Sharingan. Unless you awaken those eyes yourself you won't match his genjutsu."

"What is the Mangekyo Sharingan sensei?" Ino asked, slowing down to run beside the two of them.

"It is the ultimate form of the Sharingan. A Sharingan that has seen the death of its wielder's best friend." Kakashi said, then sped up, heading to the front of the group.

' _I wonder what happened to his friend. Is that how he got his Sharingan in the first place?'_ Sasuke asked himself. ' _Maybe I should ask Naruto, he should know.'_

"That's so sad. He lost his best friend, and he watched it happen." Ino muttered to herself.

The two genin were quiet for the rest of the trip, as was Kakashi. The only sounds for the next few hours were from Naruto, Gai, and Lee, making jokes and telling stories.

When they arrived at the village the two teams went right up to the Hokage's tower and told him what happened.

"I see. You will each be paid as if it is an A-Rank mission. You have done well, dismissed." The old man said, a worried look on his face.

"Actually Jiji, I have something else that I want to talk to you about." Naruto said.

"Very well, the rest of you are dismissed. Have your written reports on my desk by tomorrow evening then take a week off." Sarutobi said. The group left and he turned to Naruto, activating the privacy seals in his office and telling his ANBU to leave with a single hand seal. "What is it Naruto?"

"I think the kyuubi's seal is breaking." The blond said, "I got mad on the bridge and I felt its power. It took over my body. It, no he, he called himself Kurama as he fought against Itachi. He was fast, I couldn't see what was going on sometimes because of the speed." Naruto clenched his fists, "He had these crazy jutsu, Dark Style, Dark Fire Style. He blocked the Amaterasu attack with a Dark Style jutsu that seemed to absorb the flames. He made these green fireballs with the Dark Fire Style. Itachi put me under a genjutsu named Tsukuyomi but Kurama broke out of it the first time, the second time it hit him though and that's how I got control back." Naruto's face hardened, "I need to be strong enough to match Itachi alone, without that power. He came for me Jiji, I don't know why but they came for me."

"Calm down Naruto. I will have someone train you. He has been asking about you for a long time but his mission has kept him away." Sarutobi said, "I will summon him back to the village. He has been gone long enough."

"You're calling Ero-sennin back?" Naruto realised that his godfather would be returning. Naruto had met the man only once in his life that he could remember. It was on his seventh birthday, the white haired man was in his house whenever he got home from shuriken practice with Kakashi.

 **-Flashback Start-**

 _A six year old Naruto walked into the house he lived in with Kakashi. He was exhausted after training in shuriken and kunai technique with Kakashi for nearly eight hours. He had left Kakashi to do the cleanup while he went home to sleep._

" _Ah there you are Gaki." The large man went up to Naruto and ruffled his hair, a large smile on his face. "I've been meaning to stop by for a while now. You sure are short." It was true, Naruto was always the shortest in his class._

" _Who are you?" Naruto looked up at the giant of a man and rubbed one of his eyes, "You know my brother is the strongest ninja in the village right? He's cleaning up the training ground right now but when he come home and sees you he's gonna kill you." Naruto turned around and opened the door, "If you leave now I won't tell him. You look pretty drunk so I'm sure it's an accident."_

 _Just then Kakashi walked through the door, "Yo! Jiraiya-sensei, how's it going?"_

 _Naruto's jaw hit the ground, "JIRAIYA!" Naruto ran up to the man and hugged his leg, barely reaching the man's waist even with his spiky hair, "You're my godfather right?" Naruto asked, "Can you tell me about my daddy when he was little?"_

 _Jiraiya laughed, "So you're being all nice now eh?" He ruffled Naruto's hair again, "How's about this, in the morning I'll take you out for breakfast at Ichiraku's and we'll talk. You should go to bed for now."_

 _Naruto nodded, "Hey, tomorrow is my birthday! Did you know that? There's a festival and everything tomorrow night! Do you wanna come and meet my friends?" He asked, stopping in the middle of the stairs to yell at Jiraiya._

 _The man smiled, his eyes were sad however, "We'll see how long I can stay. I'm a busy ninja you know."_

 _Naruto smiled, "I hope you can make it." He ran up the stairs and Jiraiya heard him shout, "AND YOU BETTER HAVE A PRESENT FOR ME TOMORROW MORNING-TTEBAYO!"_

 _Kakashi's eyes widened, he had forgotten to buy Naruto a present!_

 _The two men looked at each other and nodded, both running out the door._

 _The next morning Naruto woke up to see Jiraiya and Kakashi waiting for him, each of them had a wrapped gift in their hands. Kakashi's wrapping paper had orange foxes on top of the blue wrappings and was a small square shaped box. Jiraiya's was about the same size with toads littering the green wrapping paper._

" _Happy birthday Naruto." Kakashi said with an eye smile._

" _Seven now eh Gaki?" Jiraiya was also smiling._

 _Naruto ran down to the kitchen and sat at the table. Both men placed the gifts on the table and Naruto grabbed Kakashi's first. He ripped through the paper without hesitation. Underneath was a small box with a tag that read_ **DANGER! Explosive!** _Naruto grinned, "Finally those explosive tags I've been wanting-ttebayo!" he opened the box only to find that instead of explosive tags it was filled with a year's supply of Ichiraku Ramen vouchers. "RAMEN VOUCHERS!" he jumped up and hugged Kakashi before sitting back down and ripping open Jiraiya's present. He opened the box and pulled out two things, the first was and orange toad's head with black markings. It's mouth opened to reveal that it was actually a wallet. The second was a long kunai with three prongs. Naruto smiled at the wallet, "I'm gonna name him Gama-chan!" He smiled widely. Then he took the kunai and looked quizzically at it, "Why is this kunai shaped funny-ttebayo?"_

 _Jiraiya laughed, "It was your father's. He used it with the Hiraishin jutsu." The old man said._

 _Naruto's mouth hung wide open, "Really?" He had tears in his eyes, Kakashi had told him about his father's signature jutsu and how powerful it was, "Does that mean I can do the Hiraishin jutsu too?" Naruto held the kunai tight._

" _I don't think so. Minato placed blood seals on those kunai, so only he can activate them. But I'll teach you some fuuinjutsu when you're older if you want." Jiraiya told him._

 _Naruto nodded his head, "I'd like that. I wanna be a super awesome ninja one day."_

 _Jiraiya ruffled his hair, "Let's go spend some of those coupons!" He brought Naruto to Ichiraku's ramen stand and they ate 30 bowls between the two of them._

 _Later Jiraiya brought Naruto to the hot springs and taught the boy how to peep on women. After that Naruto started calling him Ero-sennin. They went to the festival together and Jiraiya bought Naruto an ANBU style fox mask, which the boy wore hanging around his neck._

 _The next day Jiraiya brought Naruto to a training ground, "Well Gaki, you have me here for one more day. Is there anything you wanna learn?"_

 _Naruto pondered for a minute, "Ummm I wanna learn a super cool Jutsu!' Naruto said, "One like my dad!"_

 _Jiraiya thought for a minute before the idea came to him, "Alright kid, I'll teach you the basis of your dad's second strongest jutsu." Jiraiya then took out some balloons and rubber balls. He filled half of the balloons with water and held one in his hand, "So all you have to do it pop the water balloon using your chakra." he held the balloon and after a couple seconds it exploded, sending water everywhere. "The second step is to do the same thing with the rubber ball." again Jiraiya took a rubber ball and held it in his hand. Naruto could see it stretching widely in all directions before exploding with a loud_ _ **POP.**_ " _And the last step is to do both of those without popping the regular balloon." Jiraiya held a balloon in his hand and did nothing. "I'll show you what it should look like next time I come."_

 _Naruto nodded and grabbed a water balloon._

 **-End Flashback-**

"You know, I still have Gama-chan." Naruto smiled and showed the Hokage his wallet, "I've been waiting for him to come back. I'm ready to learn that jutsu." Naruto put the wallet away, "Thank you Jiji, for calling Ero-sennin back for me. I miss the pervert." Sarutobi and Naruto both smiled.

"I have too Naruto." The Hokage said.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Sasuke got home and emptied out his mission gear. He then took a shower and changed into more civilian clothes, a black shirt with the Uchiha Clan symbol on the back and a pair of blue pants. He left his headband on his bed and put his wallet in his pocket. He walked around Konoha for a little while, stopping at some shops to browse what they had before heading to his favourite gear shop, Tentetsu's Gear. It was a small shop, out of the way of the shopping district, but it had arguably the best gear in the village. Tenkuro Tentetsu, the owner of the shop, was a large man, his arms looked like they could lift mountains. His face had a large scar going across his right eye which was always closed. His brown hair was always in a high ponytail and Sasuke had only ever seen him in a brown blacksmith's apron with white, fire resistant clothes underneath.

"Tenkuro! It's Sasuke." The Uchiha called into the shop once he stepped in.

"Just in the back working on an order, be there in a minute." The gruff voice of Tenkuro rang out through the shop.

"I'm browsing the swords." Sasuke called back. Tenkuro liked to know where people were when he couldn't see them. He counted all his stock every night and morning and kept track of who bought what. The man was like a machine.

Sasuke looked at the blades. They were all nice, sharp and sleek, but they were average. He couldn't have an average sword, he needed the best. Tenkuro came out and saw the Uchiha browsing.

"You won't want any of those." The man said, "They're just average right?"

Sasuke shook his head, "You know me too well. I want a sword made of chara metal."

Tenkuro's eyes widened, "Really? I don't think you have enough money for one of those. You could buy a house with one of them."

Sasuke shook his head, "I inherited all the money from the entire clan, I have enough money."

"Even so, I'd feel better if you at least knew how to use a sword before you paid that much money for one. I'll give you a sword on the house for now. If you show me that you've learnt some swordsmanship I'll make you a specialised sword for half price. How's that sound?"

Sasuke scoffed, "Well Kakashi-sensei was going to teach me anyways, so thanks Tenkuro. I'll take you up on that offer."

Tenkuro smiled, "Alright, take your pick." Sasuke grabbed a wakizashi and spun it around, "I'll take this one."

Tenkuro gave Sasuke a scabbard for the blade and showed his how to fasten it to his belt, "Well Sasuke, I hope you're good, because I want to make a sword for the next Uchiha clan head, one that'll be passed down for generations and become a clan heirloom."

Sasuke smirked, "Don't worry Tenkuro, I'll make sure not to disappoint." Sasuke walked out of the shop with a "Thank you" just as he was about to walk through the door.

"That boy will go far in this world, I know it." Tenkuro said before returning to his work in the back.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Ino walked into her family's flower shop and called for her dad.

"Yes Ino?" The man appeared out of the greenhouse, "How did your mission go?"

"It was pretty scary actually. But because of it I need to step up my training. I started working on my Astral Clone jutsu but I need some help with it. Do you think you'd be able to train with me for a bit?"

Inoichi looked worried for a minute, "I want to hear the story first but yes, I will train with you."

Ino told her father the story, about how Naruto and Sasuke fought against Itachi and she could barely help, and how Haku and Zabuza nearly died.

Inoichi was angry that his daughter was put in that position on her very first mission outside the village but didn't interrupt, "We'll step your training up a couple notches. I'll help you with as many jutsu as I can."

"Thanks daddy." Ino smiled.

 _And that's that chapter. Just a quick break in between the Land of Waves and the Chunin Exams. Next chapter,_ _ **Chunin Exams! Naruto's Worst Enemy, The Impossible Test!**_ _Hope you guys enjoyed! Let me know if you liked it!_

 _Also, I have couple spots open in the Chunin exam qualifiers if anyone has an OC they'd like to enter. I need 9 genin, so three whole teams. They can be from Iwa, Suna, Konoha, or Oto up to you. If any of you have OCs they'd like to see in the story send me a PM and I'll send you the template I'd like to receive them in._


	8. Chunin Exams - Rookies Reunited!

"NARUTO LET'S GO!" Ino yelled from outside his house, "SASUKE WANTED TO TALK TO US! AND KAKASHI-SENSEI IS ALREADY AT THE TRAINING GROUND!"

There was no answer.

"Stupid dummy." Ino slammed the door open, "NARRRUUUUTTOOO!" She screamed.

"WHAT?" A drowsy voice came from upstairs.

"WAKE THE HELL UP!" She stomped upstairs, bursting Naruto's door open with her foot. As the door hit the ground she saw Naruto putting on his pants. Ino was speechless.

"Ino you broke my door…" Naruto looked at his best friend as he grabbed a black shirt with the Uzumaki swirl on it and put it on. "Could you at least like, pick it up or something?" He asked.

Ino just walked away, beat red.

"What was that?" Naruto asked himself as he picked his door up and stood it against the wall, "I'll fix it later. Guess I'm late for training. Ero-sennin really has been working me hard this week." He grabbed his black jacket and ran after Ino, who hadn't walked too far in that time.

"Hey Ino, sorry to make you come get me. Ero-sennin was training me like crazy last night, I didn't get home til the sun was coming up." Naruto said as he caught up to his best friend.

"It's no trouble. Sorry about your door." Ino said, "Just try and be a bit more responsible with your time, we're supposed to be getting an important announcement from sensei today."

"It's probably just him telling us that we're eligible for the chunin exams." Naruto said, "I was spying on Jiji's office whenever he asked all of the genin's sensei who should participate."

Ino shook her head, "You know that could be considered treason Naruto." She said, "But if we're eligible for the exams you know Sasuke won't forgive us for chickening out. He wants to fight you most of all, more than Itachi I think."

Naruto laughed, "Well he wouldn't be able to scratch me after my new training." He thumbed his chest, "Cause I'm the best, BELIEVE IT!" He laughed.

"Naruto…" Ino said calmly, "If you start that stupid 'believe it' crap again I'll murder you."

The two just laughed.

When they got to the training ground Kakashi was there with Sasuke, correcting him on his sword stances.

"Oh, the sleeper has awoken eh?" Kakashi said, not looking up to the pair as he kicked Sasuke's wrist into the proper position, "So I guess you already know why I'm here early since you were spying on the office yesterday?" The jonin asked.

"Chunin exams." Naruto said, "And I had to make sure you actually recommended us, I mean I'm easily chunin material. So is Ino. Teme over there, not too sure yet." He laughed as Sasuke threw a shuriken that landed right in front of his toes.

"Maa maa, Sasuke you've gotta work on your temper." Kakashi scolded, "You can't threaten every idiot into getting what you want."

Sasuke scoffed, "Not every idiot, just the really dumb ones." He flashed a smirk at Naruto.

"What'd you say?" Naruto walked towards Sasuke, cracking his knuckles until Ino smacked him upside the head.

"Anyways," Kakashi interrupted with a small smile of reminiscence, "Since you all know what the secret is, I guess you wanna participate?" He asked rhetorically, "Head to the Academy and register once training is done then."

The group nodded.

"Now Naruto I know you were working on fuuinjutsu all night so I want you to take a break and start working on your taijutsu, hiraishin style, not dragon ball style."

"But those Dragon Ball movies are awesome sensei, I wanna be able to use the Kamehameha one day!" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto, it's a movie people can't do things like fly and yell to get more power…" Ino said.

"Then how did Son Goku do it?" He retorted.

"Ever heard of special effects dobe?" Sasuke asked, "How is it that my rival is such an idiot?"

"Anyways, Ino, you work on ninjutsu or taijutsu, your choice. Your genjutsu is at an acceptable level right now so try and work on your other skills. You have an affinity for Earth and Water jutsu so try working on Water for a while, I'm sure one of Naruto's clones can help you out. Sasuke, I'll keep working with you on your kenjutsu."

Naruto made three clones to go help Ino with her Water ninjutsu. He knew quite a few now due to his week of training with Jiraiya.

He then made twenty clones of his own, "Alright guys, time to work on taijutsu. I want half of you trying to copy the moves from Dragon Ball, the other half and me will work on the Hiraishin style, sound good?" All of his clones nodded and paired off before beginning to spar.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke were all walking into the academy, it was time for the chunin exams. They saw a group of genin talking to two other genin in front of room 303, where they were supposed to meet.

"Guys, this is the second floor, they've hidden the stairs with a genjutsu." Ino whispered to her team.

"Hn, obviously a pre-test to weed out the worthless genin." Sasuke scoffed.

"Those must be Kotetsu and Izumo then. The gate guards." Naruto remembered his pranks on those two, they were always good hearted about it. "Let's just go around them, use the far flight of stairs."

"Good idea." Ino said, "Especially since the main stairs are blocked by genjutsu."

"What? Really?" Naruto looked at the group amassed and saw that the stairs were indeed missing.

"Dobe." Sasuke shook his head as he walked towards the back-up stairs.

"NARUTO! INO!" Sakura's voice rang out, behind her were Shino and Kiba, along with Akamaru -the white pup who never left Kiba's side.

"Sakura!" Naruto turned around and smiled, "How's genin life been?" He asked.

"It's been great. Kurenai's taught me a bunch of genjutsu and my taijutsu skills have improved too!" She said excitedly, "She says that I'm probably the best among our generation at genjutsu."

"Excuse me Sakura, but I'm the best at genjutsu among our generation!" Ino said, getting up into Sakura's face.

"We'll just have to see when we get to the tournament portion of the exam then eh?" Sakura taunted.

Shino walked passed the two and up to Naruto, greeting his friend with handshake, "Naruto, it is good to see you."

"You two man." Naruto smiled widely. Shino was a good friend, and someone Naruto had genuinely missed hanging out with.

"I hope things have been well?" Shino said, "You haven't been slacking hopefully."

Naruto laughed, "Me, slacking? Never! I hope you've been training hard because if not I'll kick your ass."

Shino's body seemed to buzz, "Naruto, you're enthusiasm is as contagious as ever. I too want us to meet in the ring and test one another." Shino said.

"Hey what about me Shino? Aren't I suppose to be your rival?" Kiba asked as he came up to them.

"Kiba, Naruto was the first person that I called a friend, though you are my rival, Naruto is my best friend. I cannot say that I do not wish to fight you, but the idea of meeting one's best friend in battle is an opportunity that does not come often, so I am far more excited to challenge him."

Kiba growled, "We were friends in the academy too Shino! I don't know why Naruto is the one you call your best friend!" He swung his arms out.

"He was the first one to talk to me. Even teachers ignored me, thinking that I was less human due to my clan's symbiotic nature with our insects, but Naruto approached me and offered to eat with me. He was the first outside my clan to accept me for my insects, and as such he became my best friend." Shino said.

Kiba growled again, "I can't compete with that." He said, "But just so you know Naruto, Shino is gonna blow through you so that he can face me in the finals."

Naruto laughed, "You'll have to get through teme here first Kiba, and he's not as weak as he looks." Naruto jabbed a thumb towards Sasuke.

"I'll destroy you mutt." the Uchiha said, "It'll be the dobe and me in the finals."

"YOSH!" a green blur flew into the group, "It is admirable of you to think that you and your rival will meet in the finals Sasuke, but it shall be Neji and I who clash to decide the most youthful genin this year!" Rock Lee said, his voice a perpetual shout as usual.

"Ya right Bushy-brows, I'll blow right through you, I don't care how good you are at taijutsu, with my newest ninjutsu taught to me by Ero-sennin himself I can't lose!" Naruto shouted.

"How troublesome. Naruto has a green clone." Shikamaru's lazy voice wafted over to the group, Choji beside him eating potato chips as usual.

"Hey Shika! Choji!" Naruto and Ino said at the same time.

"Hey Ino! Naruto!" Choji said with a smile, offering them both a chip. They each took one with a smile.

"Naru-Ino-Shika-Cho reform!" Naruto shouted, grabbing Ino and getting into a flamboyant pose beside Shikamaru and Choji.

The group heard Hinata giggle at Naruto's antics as everyone else face palmed.

"Hinata, I didn't see you there." Naruto said with a smile, "How's training under Asuma-sensei?"

"Why didn't he ask us?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because you two are lazy bums." Ino said matter-of-factly as she too went to see Hinata, "Hey Hina! Hope everything is well."

"Yes. Asuma-sensei is laid back but he's taught me a lot of skills that'll help me break away from the Gentle Fist style when I need to. I know quite a few long range jutsu and a few genjutsu now." Hinata said.

"Hinata, don't reveal too much. They're still our enemies you know." Shikamaru said.

Neji and Tenten walked up to the group, "Smart. Lee let's go. We won't be accompanying these rookies to the exam room. Neji said. He then turned to the group, eyes focussing on Hinata for a moment before wandering over to Naruto and Sasuke, "I will win this tournament." Neji said, then kept walking.

"Wow, he's almost as douchey as teme over here." Naruto dodged a kick from Sasuke as he finished his sentence.

"Neji has always been cold." Hinata said, "I think he has a grudge against the main branch of the Hyuga family."

"How come?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't know the details but I think it has to do with his father's passing. It happened almost ten years ago but he hasn't let it go." Hinata said.

"I see." Shikamaru shook his head, "Troublesome. Anyways we should head to the exam."

"Shikamaru, what'd ya say about a team alliance between us?" Naruto asked, "You guys too Shino." He said to the Aburame clan heir.

Shikamaru thought for a minute before nodding, "It'll raise out chances of making it to the finals. Okay Naruto. As long as my team is okay with it so am I."

Choji nodded, "Doesn't bother me." he said in between potato chips.

"I am okay with it too." Hinata said.

Shino nodded, "I had hoped you would ask." he said.

"I think it's smart. Naruto and Sasuke are probably the best fighters among us, and Shikamaru is super smart. Shino and Kiba are amazing trackers. It's a dream team." Sakura said.

"And what do you add Sakura?" Ino asked jokingly.

"Genjutsu. Unlike a certain blonde I'm useful." The pinkette said with a smirk.

"Troublesome. Let's get to the exam room." Shikamaru said, leading the way.

The room was full of older genin. Most from the Leaf village but there were a few genin from the Rock village Iwa, as well as some from the Sand village Suna. A few were from a smaller village known as the Rain village Ame, and there was a single team from a village that just recently popped up, the Sound village Oto.

As they walked in everyone glared at them.

"Great, being a rookie really put a target on our backs eh?" Ino murmured.

"It's troublesome for sure." Shikamaru added. Choji nodded while munching on potato chips.

"Hey! Are you bastards looking down on us for being rookies?" Naruto shouted at them, "How many of you have gone toe-to-toe with Itachi Uchiha and come back alive?" he shouted, causing everyone to recoil a bit, "That's right! BRING IT ON!"

"Shut up." Sasuke smacked him in the head.

"Teme you wanna die?" Naruto glared at him.

"Naruto he's right, put on your big boy boots, it serious now. They know we're strong, we're a big target." Ino said.

Naruto instantly sobered up, smacking his kunai pouch twice and releasing a seal that held an ANBU style fox mask that he tied around his neck. "Right, sorry. I'm ready." he said.

Ino smirked, along with the other seven rookies, though they would never admit it, Naruto was their leader and now that he was taking things seriously, they were gonna pass this test with flying colours.

* * *

 _And that's that. I was gonna add the test in but it just didn't happen. Next chapter I guess. Still taking OCs for the tournament, send 'em in guys!_


	9. Chunin Exams - The Impossible Test!

As the group of rookies looked at Naruto a teen with white hair and glasses walked up to them, he was from Konoha, as was evident from his headband.

"You sure are some brave rookies." He said with a small laugh, "I'm Kabuto Yuki."

"And I'm sure you know who we are?" Shikamaru said, there was something fishy about this guy. Noticing his friend's reluctance Naruto nodded at Ino slightly, an action that she returned.

A simple message was passed through the group of rookies, _**DO NOT TRUST**_.

"Everybody here does, you're the largest group of rookies that I've ever heard of. And the first group of rookies in a few years at that." Kabuto said with a shrug, "I just wanted to offer some fellow villagers some advice."

"And what kind of advice would that be?" Sasuke asked. He had got the message but he wanted to test this guy for himself.

"Well, the layout of the exam, maybe some data on the other competitors." Kabuto offered, "I could even tell you who's favoured to win the exam tournament."

"Tell me anyone who could be a threat." Sasuke said.

Kabuto smirked and pulled out a deck of playing cards, placing five cards on the ground, "Well first there's you, Sasuke Uchiha. Last loyal Uchiha and a prodigy in his own right. Completed 50 D-Ranks, 1 C-Rank turned A-Rank. A stage 2 Sharingan in either eye and an affinity for Lightning and Fire chakras. Currently learning the Hatake style of kenjutsu and being trained in ANBU assassination techniques." Kabuto said, flipping over a card that had all of Sasuke's stats on it, "Next there's Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, son of Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, and Kushina Uzumaki, an elite jonin, has been training under Kakashi Hatake since a young age. Has an affinity for every chakra nature, with Wind nature being nearly unparalleled. Currently training with Jiraiya of the Sannin in fuuinjutsu and a practitioner of the Hiraishin taijutsu style." Kabuto flipped over a card with Naruto's face and stats on it. "Then there's Neji Hyuga, branch member of the Hyuga clan. Rookie of the year the year before you and a prodigy compared to Itachi Uchiha. Since he trains in secret and hasn't appeared on any missions in the last month since returning from the Land of Waves with squad 7 not much is known about his mastery of the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist. His mission completing rate is 100%, having completed 75 D-Ranks and 9 C-Ranks, though one of them became an A-Rank." Kabuto said, flipping over a card with Neji's face on it.

"There are two more." Sasuke said, "I want to know about them."

Kabuto shrugged, "First there's Kurotsuchi. From Iwa. She is here with her squad, Akatsuchi, her best friend and the son of one of Iwa's strongest jonin, and Byatsuchi, her cousin. Both her and Byatsuchi are grandchildren of the Third Tsuchikage Oonoki. Kurotsuchi has completed 75 D-Rank missions, 15 C-Rank missions, and 2 B-Rank missions. She is known to possess the Lava Release Kekkei Genkai." Kabuto said. The card had a picture of a pretty teen girl with short black hair and black eyes.

"Lava Release?" Sakura asked, "Isn't it said that Lava Release is on par with the First Hokage's Wood Release?"

"Indeed it is. What's more is her cousin Bytsuchi is said to have it as well, though there is no data of him using it so I can't say for sure. If he does though he'll be on this list too." Kabuto said, "And finally there is Gaara of the Sand, from Suna obviously. He's the son of the Fourth Kazekage and his teammates are his older siblings, Kankuro of the Sand and Temari of the Sand. Gaara has completed 0 D-Rank missions, 22 C-Rank missions, 11 B-Rank missions, and 3 A-Rank missions. It also says that he's never been hurt on a mission before." the card that Kabuto flipped had a picture of a pale boy with red hair and dark rings all around his green eyes. He had a red tattoo that read _love_ on his forehead.

"Three A-Ranks and no damage?" Ino exclaimed, "Impossible!"

Kabuto laughed, "It does seem rather daunting. Perhaps I'll drop out this year as well."

"How many times have you done this test?" Shikamaru asked.

Kabuto looked at him, "It's held once every six months, this is my seventh try."

"Seven huh? You should give up before you get killed." A large man with scars across his face said. His head was covered with a Leaf village bandana and he wore a black trenchcoat. "Well, what're you all sitting around for?" His voice boomed, "GET TO YOUR SEATS!" Every genin scrambled to their seats.

"Good." The man said, "I am Ibiki Morino, the proctor of the first exam." he said as four chunin walked into the room, "These are my aids. They will pass out the tests. It's a written exam you see, and we'll be watching, so don't let us catch you cheating." he glared at every person in the room, "If you're caught three times you're out, and because this is a team based competition, if you're out so is your entire team."

"What? That's not fair!" A genin from Ame yelled.

"We're ninja, we don't do fair so shut up or get out." One of the chunin said. The Ame-nin sat down with a worried look on his face.

"Please pass out the tests. As soon as everyone has one we'll begin. You will have one hour." Ibiki said. Once all the tests were passed out he shouted, "BEGIN!"

Naruto immediately flipped over his paper and his face paled. ' _How am I supposed to answer these questions?"_ he mentally cursed himself for being so bad at schoolwork. But why did a ninja need… " _That makes sense. I just need to get Ino to connect us all to Sakura. The point is to not get caught!"_ Naruto realised. He used chakra to sharpen his nail and dug a message into his pencil before he began to spin it on his fingers, 'accidentally' flicking it at Shino, who sat just two rows down from him.

" _Come one Shino, pick it up!"_ Naruto mentally screamed at his friend, who looked at the pencil but did nothing. Unfortunately it had landed message down so he couldn't read it. " _What can I do now?"_ Naruto pulled another pencil from his kunai pouch. He couldn't toss another pencil towards Shino, he didn't want to chance the idea that they could take it as cheating. This would be his last chance, he could get caught once more.

"EXAMINEE NUMBER 33, OUT! TAKE YOUR TEAM WITH YOU!" Ibiki shouted. "NUMBER 17, YOU AND YOUR TEAM AS WELL!" a couple seconds passed until Ibiki eliminated another four teams.

" _Think, what can I do? I need to get a message to Ino but she's somewhere behind me. Shino is really the only person who can get a message across other than Ino. Maybe I don't have to reach Shino though, I can pass the message to everyone else with this shot, there are five people in front of me, four without Shino. They each have at least one chance after I send them the pencil so that's four chances to get the message to Shino."_ Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji, and Hinata were all in front of him Lee was there too but he wasn't part of their alliance. " _I can use the Kunai Shadow Clone on my pencil as I toss it, multiplying it into four and passing it to each of them. By the rules it should only count as cheating once."_ Naruto started carving a message on the pencil again before he started to twirl it, subtly going through the hand signs for his new jutsu as he did so. He locked eyes with Ibiki, who glared slightly at him.

"EXAMINEE 55!" Ibiki shouted, that was Naruto's number, "ARE YOU WORKING ON YOUR TEST?"

"Yes sir I am." Naruto said, "I'm just thinking of my answer." he silently cursed as his pencil slipped, hitting Sasuke, who was in the front row, in the head.

Sasuke turned around, holding the pencil, "Dobe you dropped something." Sasuke's eyes then picked up the message and he tossed the pencil upwards, causing it to stab into Shino's desk, "Give that back to Naruto." Sasuke turned around and continued working on his test.

" _IT WORKED!"_ Naruto's accident had saved him.

" _Smart Naruto. I'm surprised you figured it out."_ Ino's voice rang in his head, " _Here are the answers from Sakura."_ She said.

" _What else would you expect from him?"_ Shikamaru asked through the connection, " _He's an idiot sometimes, but he's good at the hole, underneath the underneath thing."_

" _You aren't wrong Shikamaru."_ Sakura added, " _I am impressed though Naruto, I didn't even figure that out I just answered the questions."_

" _Same here."_ Sasuke said.

" _As did I."_ Shino added.

" _Yup, me too."_ Ino said mockingly.

" _You guys are jerks."_ Naruto told them as he scribbled down the answers.

" _It's ok Naruto, I didn't get them."_ Kiba said.

" _Great, now I'm on the same level as Kiba!"_ Naruto very nearly flipped his desk.

" _What's that supposed to mean?"_ Kiba growled over the mental connection.

" _Only that you're an idiot!"_ Naruto mentally said, though he felt the connection cut as eight more teams were kicked out.

"FIVE MINUTES LEFT!" Ibiki called out.

Naruto finished writing down the answers in the last few minutes he had left. In that five minutes nineteen more groups were kicked out. One group tried to attack Ibiki, but was quickly knocked out faster than most of the genin in the room could see.

"TIME!" Ibiki shouted, "PENCILS DOWN!" every genin dropped their pencils.

"Good, now that that's all done, it's time for the tenth question. If you answer it correctly you will pass on to stage two of the chunin exams, however if you answer incorrectly, then you will be stuck as a genin. Forever."

"That's not fair, the rules say we can try as many times as we want!" Kabuto stood up and shouted.

"I never made the rules before." Ibiki responded, "Now because I'm a nice guy I'll give you all a chance to leave, you can try again in six months." he said, "Of course if you leave, so do your teammates. And you will have to leave before hearing the question."

As Ibiki spoke a genin from Suna stood up, "I'm sorry guys, but I can't face never being able to become a chunin." he said.

"I understand." his teammates said as they walked out together. This happened to another three squads leaving just 30 groups left.

" _Can I really answer a question like this?"_ Naruto asked himself.

" _Naruto, I can link us to Sakura again."_ Ino said, " _We won't have to worry about getting it wrong that way. We could even all work together."_

" _Sorry Ino, but I can't risk it. If I can't make chunin how am I going to become Hokage?"_ Naruto turned to face her, " _Cut the mental link."_ She could see tears in his eyes as his gaze met hers.

" _Naruto I…"_ Ino was shocked as Naruto forcibly cut the connection.

" _Ino, I'm sorry but I'm doing this for you too."_ Naruto thought as he continued to look her in the eyes, his hand slowly leaving his desk, " _Please don't hate me, but we can try again. I… I can't let you fail this question too. It'd ruin your reputation as an amazing kunoichi."_ As Naruto's hand was going up one of Shino's bugs landed on him, carrying a pencil. Naruto turned to see all of his friends who were sitting lower than him smiling.

He turned the pencil over and read it;

 _Naruto, you were my first friend. You were the one who sat with me for nine days just to name my bugs. You introduced me to everyone else. You are the reason I am here right now, you have to come to the finals with us, you are our leader._ He teared up more as he read Shino's message.

 _Dobe, I refuse to quit here. You may be an idiot but you're the idiot I look to for back up, don't let me down._ Sasuke's message made him laugh a bit, just like the teme to ignore the fact they were friends.

 _Naruto, you're the kinda troublesome guy who'd sneak into Iruka's office to get back Choji's special potato chips, or my nap blanket. You're not the kinda guy to give up. Stop being troublesome. P:S Tell Ino you like her!_ Shikamaru's message made him think back to the times they spent together at the academy, then he read the last part and his jaw dropped.

 _Naruto. The entire reason I'm here is because you pushed me to be. When we were young you helped me out when I was getting bullied, and then you made friends with me and introduced me to everyone at the academy. You even helped me work on my stutter. You're my hero Naruto, don't give up._ Hinata's message hit him hard too.

 _Naruto, you are almost as youthful as Gai-sensei. You are the only person I have ever met to be as youthful as me! You must not give up! Let your flames of youth ignite and drive you forwards!_ Even Lee had written something?

Naruto took a deep breath and stood up, "You think your damn mind game will get to me? I'm gonna be the next Hokage, I won't let a stupid little question get in my way!" Naruto shouted, slamming his hand down on the table, "BRING IT ON IBIKI!" he shouted, "I'll take whatever you throw at me! I've got my friends here! Ino, and Sasuke! And Shikamaru, Choji, and Hinata! And Shino, Sakura, and Kiba! Even Bushy-Brows is someone I'd bet my life on because I know they'd bet their lives on me! So hit me with your best shot cause I'm not going anywhere but up!"

Naruto sat down and glared at Ibiki. When no one else stood up he sighed, "Very well, you've all passed the first test."

"WHAT!" Naruto screamed, "Where's the tenth question?"

"You just answered it." Ibiki said, "The tenth question was, will you face the unknown. Everyone here passed by answering yes. It takes not just a smart or strong, but a brave person to become a chunin."

Suddenly the window exploded open, a woman with purple hair and a tan trench coat that left almost nothing to the imagination crashed through. She also had a gray mini skirt on with thigh high boots and fishnet covering her torso.

"The sexy and seductive Anko Mitarashi!" She said as she landed, she looked up, "Ibiki am I early or do you suck? There's like thirty teams here?"

"It's a good stock here this year Anko." Ibiki said, his gaze lingering on Naruto a bit longer.

"Bah you're just a softy." Anko waved him off, "Anyway, I'll get rid of at least half of them." She grinned.

* * *

 _And that's that! I hope you all enjoyed it. I've decided to focus a bit more on Naruto's crush on Ino this chapter, it'll be a bit more prominent from this point on, I'll try not to shove it in your faces though. And don't worry I don't plan on making it a romance fic, still very story and action based. I also still need 3 OCs from Iwa if anyone has some I'll gladly take them!_


	10. Chunin Exams - The Forest of Death!

The remaining genin followed Anko to the gates of the 44th training ground, aptly dubbed the Forest of Death by many due to the many poisonous plants and insects as well as the gigantic beast that lived in the forest. The entire forest was about 20km in diameter and a perfect circle. It was fenced in with high, nearly sixty foot fences. It had 44 gates around the perimeter.

"This, my little friends, is the Forest of Death." Anko said, "And it's where you'll spend the next five days." she smiled cheerily, "Of course those of you from other villages will have to sign waivers so we aren't held responsible for your deaths."

As she said this two full wooden shop stands popped up behind Anko, a chunin behind each with stacks of papers waiting to be signed.

"Well, get a move on. I'll explain the test whenever you've all filled out your waivers." Anko clapped and everyone went to sign a waiver.

Once everyone had signed their forms Anko collected them and clapped, two more wooden stands appeared out of nowhere, this time filled with scrolls.

"This task is simple. Cellect both a Heaven and an Earth scroll and get to the tower in the center of the forest." Anko said, "There are no rules except for these two; don't leave the forest, and don't open the scrolls. If you are caught doing either you will be disqualified." she said, "Now you'll each send one member to get a scroll and I'll send a chunin to escort you to your team's gate."

Ino connected her mind to all of her friend's, " _Guys I won't be able to cover the entire forest, if we're separated we won't be able to work together."_ she said to them.

" _Worry not Ino, I have placed tracker bugs on all of you. Naruto knows how to follow them so he can lead you."_ Shino said, " _We will attempt to meet up as early as possible. If something happens my bugs can communicate over large distances and we will hurry to your location."_

"Thanks Shino." Naruto said aloud, "We'll make sure to find you all as quick as possible."

Shino nodded and went with Sasuke and Choji to get a scroll.

"Well, I hope that we get put close to each other." Choji said, leading Hinata away as Shikamaru waved them over to the gate they were entering.

"We've gotta go too Sakura." Kiva said, pointing at Shino, who was walking behind a chunin.

"Good luck." Sakura said to Ino and Naruto.

"You too!" They waved as she left. Naruto and Ino went to meet with Sasuke. They were led to a gate with the number 7 on it.

"Heh, that's ironic." Naruto said as he saw the sign.

"BEGIN!" Everyone could hear Anko's voice start the exam. As she shouted all the gates fell open and the teams rushed forwards.

"Alright, Shino's bug it telling us to go this way!" Naruto led the way, going left around the wall instead of going further into the forest.

As they traveled Ino stopped, "Guys, don't move forward!" She whispered loudly, "I can sense another group of genin really close to us."

Naruto and Sasuke stopped, jumping back to land on either side of Ino. "We can't just not go forward though, and the bug will get confused if we go to far around." Naruto said, "I say we plow right through them. We need a second scroll anyways."

"The dobe is right, they aren't gonna be stronger than us so I don't see why it matters if we waste a bit of time taking them out." Sasuke said, unsealing a sword and attaching it to his belt.

Ino shook her head, "Alright if you two think you can do it alone I'll stand back, because one of us needs to make sure that Shino's bug doesn't get squashed." she said.

"Alright, you up for it teme?" Naruto asked Sasuke as he passed the little bug to Ino, who looked a little uncomfortable with the insect crawling on her.

"Try and keep up dobe." Sasuke smirked and ran forwards.

"We could at least try to be stealthy." Naruto sighed, following after Sasuke.

When the blond reached the small path that the group was traveling he saw Sasuke landing in between the three, slashing one across the stomach as he fell, leaving a deep cut that spurted blood all over the Uchiha.

"Fire Style: Searing Hands!" Sasuke shouted, clasping his hand over the face of another genin, leaving a gross burn mark as she fell to the ground, leaving just one left.

"Please… I'll give you my scroll just don't hurt me!" The man cried.

Sasuke held a hand out. The genin pulled out his scroll, an Earth scroll. Sasuke scoffed and smacked the teen over the head with the hilt of his sword, knocking him out.

"Ino, they're dealt with. Two of them need medical attention." Naruto called out as Sasuke pocketed the scroll. Naruto took the bug away from Ino as they both leapt down to the path.

"Good Kami Sasuke you didn't have to be so ruthless!" Ino said as she healed the first genin's stomach gash.

"Ya teme, that was rough to watch." Naruto said, "Good job though."

Sasuke scoffed, "They're from the Grass village, Kusa, they're in an alliance with Iwa, possibly Konoha's greatest enemy of the five major villages. I should have killed them all."

Naruto nodded, "Hate to say it but the teme's right, especially with Iwa signing that treaty with Kumo a little while ago and the fact that just last week our alliance expired and with the chunin exams Jiji has been too busy to go to Iwa to sign it."

Ino shook her head, "Still, this is crazy. Iwa is participating in the exams, I doubt we're going to war with them." She finished healing the Kusa nin and the group continued to follow Shino's bug.

"We have a tail." Ino said, "Not too far but not too close. And they're strong, more chakra than even Naruto. We should hurry and find the others so we have a chance."

"More chakra than me?" Naruto asked, "That's insane! I have the biggest damned biju and Uzumaki blood, no genin should have as much chakra as me!"

Sasuke's face went dark, "Then maybe it isn't a genin. Itachi was after you before as well, remember." he said, "It could be another from that group."

Naruto shook his head, "This is bad. You guys go ahead, Sasuke take the bug, follow it's antenna." Naruto stopped and turned around.

"Dobe I'm not leaving you here." Sasuke said, stopping along with Ino.

"Me neither Naruto!" Ino shouted, "You really expect me to leave my best friend behind to face someone who's probably looking to kill him?"

Naruto smiled, "I guess not. Ino try and reach the other's, if you can tell them not to come for us."

Ino nodded, "I'll need a few minutes, so if this guy catches up I'm not gonna be able to worn you or help until I get the message sent."

"That's fine. I'll help the dobe." Sasuke drew his sword and stood beside Naruto, who was cracking his neck.

"Ready teme?" Naruto asked. Sasuke just scoffed. "Thought so." Naruto grinned.

Then there was a kunai in his stomach. Naruto fell to his knees and coughed up blood, "What the…" he was kicked hard in the face and sent flying to the ground below.

"The spawn of that damned Minato isn't very strong." A woman from Kusa said, standing beside Sasuke and looking down at Naruto's body. "How strong are you Sasuke?" she spun around with a kick that Sasuke blocked with his sword.

Even though he blocked Sasuke was still forced to jump to another tree branch or fall to the ground below, _She's strong!'_ He thought. A simple kick had sent jolts of pain through his entire body, "Who are you and what do you want with us?" Sasuke asked, pointing his sword at the woman.

"I don't want the other two Sasuke. Only you." she turned her head 180 degrees to stare at him, "But first I need to test you." she said, jumping over to the branch he was on and lashing out in a fast flurry of hits that Sasuke couldn't dodge.

"I contacted Shino!" Ino shouted, opening her eyes and seeing Sasuke getting pounded on. " _I hope he comes."_ She thought. Then she noticed the woman was using the serpent style taijutsu, "Sasuke it's like dodging my hits!" She shouted as she began to go through hand seals. "ANGELIC ILLUSION: TRANQUILITY!" Ino shouted, causing the woman to look over at her. Once she made eye contact Ino trapped her in a powerful genjutsu.

Sasuke took advantage of this and stabbed her with his sword, plunging it all the way through her shoulder.

"That was an unexpectedly strong genjutsu." The woman said, barely noticing the sword that was inches from her face. "I almost had a hard time breaking out of it."

"What are you?" Ino asked, "My dad told me that barely anyone can break out of that genjutsu, it takes all my chakra to do!" she shouted, slumping against the tree.

The woman grabbed Sasuke by the throat, "I'm Orochimaru of the Sannin, no genin can trap me within a genjutsu."

"Orochimaru!" Ino gasped, "The traitor!"

Sasuke growled as he kicked Orochimaru in the face, causing the Sannin to let go of his throat. Sasuke quickly went through hand seals, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower!" he let loose 10 fireballs that all hit Orochimaru, revealing that the visage of a woman was just a disguise, and he was really a white skinned man with yellow eyes and purple markings around them.

"Impressive, that almost hurt." Orochimaru laughed, his tongue slithering out of his mouth.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!" Naruto's voice boomed and Orochimaru was hit by 12 bullets made of compressed air that almost knocked him off the tree.

"Damned brat!" Orochimaru snarled, ducking under a punch from Sasuke and leaping towards Naruto, who had landed beside Ino. "Five Pronged Seal!" Orochimaru shouted, his right hand glowing red as he slammed it into Naruto's stomach and twisted. The color drained from Naruto's face as he slumped down.

"It's just me and you now Sasuke." Orochimaru said creepily.

"What do you want with me?" Sasuke took a step back subconsciously.

"I just want to leave you a little gift." the Sannin's neck stretched out, leaving his face right in front of Sasuke's. "Heaven's Mark!" he shouted, biting down on Sasuke's neck and leaving a strange mark that looked like three asterisks in a circle. Sasuke slumped down, unconscious. Orochimaru took the sword from his shoulder and placed it next to him.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!?" Ino shouted, standing up and drawing a kunai.

"I gave Sasuke a gift." Orochimaru said, "and I put that runt in his place." he turned around, "Now I take my leave. Good luck young Yamanaka." and just like that, he was gone.

Ino stumbled forwards but was caught.

"Woah there Ino, I gotcha." it was Sakura. Shino was checking on Naruto while Kiba and Akamaru were picking Sasuke up and bringing him over.

"What happened here?" Shino asked.

"Orochimaru attacked us. He bit Sasuke and left that strange mark and he hit Naruto with a strange seal that knocked him out." Ino said, "I was trying to contact you guys and once I come back to my body I saw Naruto on the ground and Sasuke getting pummeled. I tried my newest genjutsu and it was working but he broke out after Sasuke stabbed him. He barely seemed to notice anything. Then Naruto jumped back up and hit him with a jutsu, which made him mad I guess. He hit Naruto with something called a Five Pronged Seal and it knocked him out. Then he bit Sasuke."

"You are lucky that is all that he did to you." Shino said, "Orochimaru is notoriously ruthless and cruel. Let's get you out of here and we can meet up with Shikamaru's squad."

Ino nodded and tried to stand up only to get dizzy and fall over again, "I may need a break." she said.

"Here." Kiba gave her a pill. She took it and instantly felt better. "Soldier pill, refills your chakra, shouldn't take too many though, they aren't great for you."

"Thanks." Ino nodded as she stood up.

"I will carry Naruto, Kiba you take Sasuke." Shino said, "Sakura, Ino, you two will be our main fighters for now." The three other genin nodded. Shino picked up Naruto and Kiba fixed Sasuke on his shoulder. "Let's move, they aren't far."

The group set off to find their friends.

* * *

 _And I'll leave it at that for this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it XD! Have a new poll on my profile for this story if you all wanna check it out!_


	11. Chunin Exams - Three Thousand Voices!

"I can't believe we haven't found them yet. You said they were close Shino." Ino said as they sat down to take a break.

"I do not understand it either. My bug says that they are moving away from us." Shino said.

"I'll take Sakura and follow them." Kiba said, "You two stay here, I'll be able to find you again. We'll move faster as a group of two anyways."

"Shino go with them." Ino said, "I can handle anyone who comes for a little while, plus with my genjutsu I'll be able to hide us easily."

"I must refuse Ino-" Shino started.

"Orochimaru is still out there." Ino said, "You can't leave your squad for us. Go Shino, we'll be fine."

Shino looked hesitant but nodded and led his team away. Ino quickly hid Sasuke and Naruto in the nearby cave and then put a genjutsu on the cave, making it appear as if it were a large, sturdy tree.

"This isn't an easy genjutsu to hold Shino, I need you to hurry up." Ino said as she performed another check on Naruto and Sasuke with her medical jutsu. It seemed like both of them had strange chakra flows. Naruto's usually overflowing rivers of chakra were dulled down to that of a shallow pond in the fall while Sasuke's once large streams seemed to be flowing over slightly.

"What happened to Naruto's chakra?" She asked no one in particular, "I can't imagine a seal that powerful that was done in that short span of time, unless that bastard was planning on going after Naruto and sealing him."

"Are you sure Kin?" A male voice asked, he sounded roughly Ino's age, probably a few years older.

"Shut up Zaku yes I'm sure!" A female responded, "I told you I can smell lavender shampoo a mile away."

' _I don't use lavender shampoo, is there someone else here?'_ Ino asked herself, then sniffed the air, ' _Naruto! I'm gonna murder you.'_ she glared daggers at her best friend.

"So where are they?" another male voice asked, this one was raspy and deep. After a few seconds he spoke again, "Kin that's a tree, we came from that way, there's no way they're in a tree that large."

"Dosu I'm telling you, they're right in that tree." Kin said, "Look watch this."

Ino's eyes widened as she sensed a chakra build up and cursed, "Earth Style: Pit Trap!" she created a large hole underneath her teammates, "Earth Style Illusion: False Floor!" she threw a net over the edge of the hole and it was covered by imaginary dirt. "Release Genjutsu!" She made a hand seal and the tree dissipated, leaving the cave visible.

"Wind Style: Blade!" Kin shouted just before the tree genjutsu was released. The blade flew right over Ino's head, cutting off a few strands of hair.

"Looky here, a little kunoichi was hiding underneath a genjutsu." Kin snickered, she had long black hair and wore camo pants with a beige top. Beside her were two teens, probably 16 or so. One had a cocky smirk on his face with tall spiky brown hair. The other was covered in bandages with a large bundle of straw on his back. They wore the same outfits as Kin, but the second man had a large metal device on his right arm.

"Who are you?" Ino asked, slowly moving towards the pool of water nearby.

The spiky haired boy stepped forwards, "Don't worry about that." the voice belonged to Zaku, he pointed a hand towards the water and a large burst of air blasted out, nearly emptying the pond.

' _What's that ring on his hand?'_ Ino had noticed a small metal ring in the center of his palm. She smirked, flicking her wrists and sending a kunai flying towards Zaku.

"It's funny you think that'd work." Zaku pointed his palm at the kunai and another blast of air pushed the kunai back at Ino, while also sending the blonde a couple feet back.

Ino yelped as she felt a tug on her hair. She saw Kin standing behind her, a chunk of hair in her hand.

"I wish I could take care of my hair like you do." Kin had a strangely sinister snarl on her face as she pulled out a kunai, tracing it on the back of Ino's neck, just hard enough for Ino to feel blood draw once or twice, "Ya know, I hate little prissy little wanna-be kunoichi like you the most." Kin pulled the blade away before jabbing it forwards, only to be stopped by an elbow to the stomach.

"I just love it when people underestimate me." Ino smirked as she kicked Kin in the face, sending her flying. Ino went to follow but was hit by a burst of air, sending her flying into a tree.

"And I just love it when people forget that they're fighting an entire team." Zaku mocked her, "Slicing Sound Blade!" he crossed his arms and swung them across each other, sending out a visible cross of wind.

"Earth Style: Wall!" Ino weakly slapped the ground, raising a wall of earth. It felt like her ribs were shattered, that Zaku guy packed a punch for sure. She watched as her wall shattered, sending debris all over her.

"You wanna hide behind a wall?" Zaku snarled, "Try and put up a wall strong enough to stop this!" Once again he crossed his arms, "Slicing Sound Blade!" and swung them down. This time his blades of air were strong enough to carve trenches in the ground as they traveled.

Zaku watched as Ino ran straight through the blades, barely being phased as she literally was cut to ribbons and reformed. He backed up subconsciously, only to trip and smash his head.

"Demonic Illusion: Three Thousand Echoes!" Zaku heard Ino shouted.

 **Worthless... Worthless… WorthlessWorthlessWorthless… WorthlessWorthlessWorthlessWorthless… WorthlessWorthlessWorthlessWorthlessWorthless… WorthlessWorthlessWorthlessWorthlessWorthlessWorthlessWorthlessWorthless**

The words echoed in Zaku's head.

 **Weak… Weak… WeakWeakWeak… WeakWeakWeakWeakWeak… WeakWeakWeakWeakWeakWeakWeakWeakWeakWeak…**

Zaku screamed as his head felt like it was imploding. "MAKE IT STOP!" he screamed, tears rolling down his face.

 **Idiot… Idiot… IdiotIdiotIdiot… IdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiot… IdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiot… IdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiotIdiot…**

Zaku's mouth began to froth with saliva as he went unconscious.

Dosu laughed, "Well that was interesting to watch. You still have to of us to deal with though girly."

Ino was standing behind him, and could see both Dosu and Kin staring at her Astral Clone. Beside her was a puddle, she held her left hand in a half-dragon seal. The water formed a blade in her outstretched right hand, "Hydro Blade." She said as the blade fully formed. She noticed Kin throw a senbon into her clone's chest and felt a ping in her own chest as the clone fell dead.

Ino grunted as she ran forwards, slashing Dosu's back but only managing to cut the straw bundle.

"There you are!" Dosu punched her in the chest, sending her flying back, along with a strong vibration that seemed to crack most of her bones that weren't already broken.

" _I guess this is how it ends…"_ Ino said to herself, " _Sorry Naruto…"_ images of her best friend flooded her memories, causing her to smile and begin tearing up, " _I'll miss you, you dork."_

"I suggest leaving my teammate alone." Sasuke's voice rang through the clearing. He stood there, the net thrown off to the side of the hole.

"Ah, there's Sasuke. We've been looking for you." Dosu turned from Ino to face the Uchiha. He had strange markings covering the entire left side of his body.

"You shouldn't be looking for someone that can kill you without blinking." Sasuke said. Suddenly he was behind Dosu, holding the man's large metal device, and by extension his entire right arm, behind his back.

Dosu struggled against Sasuke's immense strength. With a sickening crunch Dosu's arm hung loosely at his side. Sasuke looked at Kin and his Sharingan spun into existence. The woman convulsed for a second before falling flat on her face. The marks receded into Sasuke's neck and he fell to his knees.

Ino struggled to crawl over to her teammate but didn't make it far, soon the pain took over and she fell unconscious.

When Ino next woke she saw Naruto's face above her and she leapt up, hugging her friend and knocking him on his back.

"Umm, Ino…" Naruto was beat red as he looked at his crush on top of him, gripping him so tightly he couldn't breath.

She got off him quickly, "Sorry, it's just, I thought I was gonna die and… ya know."

"Sorry I wasn't there to help you." Naruto looked down, "I should've been there, should've stopped those guy from attacking you."

"Naruto there was something wrong with your chakra, don't worry too much about it." Ino shook her head, "Anyways how long was I out for?"

"Long enough for each team to have both scrolls. We're gonna head to the tower now." Naruto grinned, "I guess Shika's team didn't need our help cuz when Shino found them they had just beat the crap outta this team with four scrolls. So with the scroll that Sasuke got and the four there each of us has enough scrolls to get in and two extras."

"Nice!" Ino pumped her fist, "I guess Sakura isn't too bad at genjutsu eh?"

"What was that Ino?" Sakura's voice rang through the cave.

After the two kunoichi's squabbles the group decided to head out towards the tower.

Ino decided to take point with Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke… what were those strange markings on you back there?" Ino asked.

Sasuke shook his head, "Not sure. But it felt good, I've never had so much power running through me."

"Sasuke, we should tell Kakashi-sensei about that, it's obviously coming from Orochimaru."

"Ino, I won't forgive you if you tell Kakashi." Sasuke said, "Keep this secret, please." he said before he sped up.

"Sasuke…"

The group got to the tower about an hour later and headed inside.

"Guess we can open the scrolls now eh?" Naruto said, grabbing them from Sasuke and unravelling both, revealing two sealing matrixes that he quickly crossed over each other. Suddenly Iruka was in front of them.

"Congratulations on passing the second exam." The scarred chunin smiled at his old students, "Please follow me."

 _And that's where I'll leave it. Next time will be some fights! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget about the poll on my profile if you wanna help dictate where the story goes._


	12. Chunin Exams - Opening Preliminaries!

Iruka lead the genin to a large room. Two groups of Suna genin were already there. One group consisted of Gaara, along with his siblings Temari and Kankuro. Naruto remembered them from Kabuto's data cards. He made eye contact with Gaara, who glared at him. Naruto glared right back.

The other Suna group consisted of a teen with spiky black hair wearing a red long sleeved shirt with black pants along with a golden scarf that had deep red ember designs. Beside him was a girl with long black hair wearing a green one piece suit. The last member was a tall boy with sandy brown hair and bandages across his torso. He wore a pair of pants that matched his hair.

"You'll have to wait here until the exams are over, there are rooms down the hall for anyone who needs to sleep." Iruka said before walking off.

The group didn't do much until the second phase of the exams were over. Sasuke and Ino made full recoveries as did the others, but Naruto still had a majority of his chakra sealed.

 **ALL PARTICIPANTS PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE STADIUM!** an announcement boomed throughout the tower.

The genin gathered in front of Sarutobi and two jonin. One was sickly and pale while the other had a senbon in his mouth and a cocky grin.

"Congratulations are in order. All of you have passed the second exam." Sarutobi started, "However, not all of you will proceed to the final exam. At least half of you will fail here."

What how come?" Naruto shouted, "We all tried our hardest to get here Jiji!"

"The final exam is a one-on-one tournament in front of the entire village. The rules limit the final tournament to at most 20 competitors and with 33 of you here, we have to cut the numbers down by nearly half. Starting now we will randomly generate matches until each of you has fought once. If you would like to withdraw do it now."

Kabuto raised his hand, "I will withdraw."

"Noted." the Hokage said, waiting a few more seconds before nodding to the sickly looking jonin, "Hayate Gekko will be your proctor."

The jonin nodded, stepping forwards, "I'll ask all of you to step out of the battle ground except those who I call." he said. He clapped his hands and a box appeared. He reached a hand in and pulled out two slips of paper. "First match, Neji Hyuga vs Hinata Hyuga!"

Everyone else left the field to stand on a balcony above the battle ground.

"Hinata you got this!" Naruto shouted.

"Ya go Hina!" Ino shouted.

"Ya Hinata!" Choji shouted, holding his free hand up.

Hinata smiled as her friends cheered for her. She looked towards her cousin and readied herself.

"Lady Hinata, you are destined to lose here." Neji said.

 **BEGIN**

Neji dashed at Hinata, jabbing at her with incredible speed. Hinata smacked away or dodged every blow.

"You've improved." Neji said with distaste as he batted away a jab from Hinata, "BYAKUGAN!" He shouted. Veins popped around his eyes as the color shifted from dull lavender to pure white.

"By.. Byakugan!" Hinata's eyes shifted to the same white as Neji's.

They charged each other again, the speed of their strikes nearly tripled. The sounds of slaps reverberated throughout the arena. Sweat was visible along Hinata's forehead as she blocked or dodged Neji's hits, occasionally retaliating with one of her own.

"HINATA!" Choji screamed, If you win I'll give you an entire bag of chips!"

"And all the cinnamon buns you want!" Naruto chimed in.

Hinata's chest felt warm as her friends called for her to win. She steadied herself and ducked under one of Neji's blows, sweeping his legs from under him. As he was falling she stood up and slammed her palm down… on a log, causing splinters to fly everywhere.

"Impressive lady Hinata. I did not expect that from you." Neji said with a cocky smirk, "Your destiny is already written however. Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!" he shouted, appearing before Hinata so quickly she couldn't see him. "Two Palms!" Neji lashed out twice, "Four Palms!" twice more, "Eight Palms!" four more times, "Sixteen Palms!" eight more times, "Thirty-Two Palms!" Neji slammed sixteen more jabs into Hinata, causing blood to spurt from her mouth as she fell to the ground.

"Pitiful, that's all the main family has to offer." Neji spat as he walked towards the balcony.

"I… I'm not done yet." Hinata stood up, her left side drooping and her right not doing much better, "I don't know why you hate me so much Neji, and I don't know why you believe me to be weak. But I have friends who think that I'm strong, and I'm not going to let them down." Hinata pulled her right arm back, "Eight Trigrams Air Palm!" she shot her hand forwards, creating a wall of air that struck Neji in the stomach, sending him flying back.

"Way to go Hina!" Ino shouted.

"Chaa! That's how we do it Hinata!" Sakura cheered.

"Thank you, my friends." Hinata whispered as she slowly hobbled towards Neji, who was standing up.

"Impressive. Would you like to see mine?" Neji asked, cocking his right arm back, "Eight Trigrams Air Palm!" he shouted, copying Hinata's move from earlier and creating a much denser wall of air that slammed into Hinata, sending her nearly 30 feet back with blood trailing from her mouth.

She hit the ground and didn't move.

Hayate called a medic. A team of five ninja rushed to grab Hinata, put her on a stretcher, and leave.

"I've gotta go make sure she's ok!" Naruto shouted, jumping onto the battlefield only to be restrained by Kakashi.

"Naruto I know she's your friend but please, let the medical squad do their jobs. She'll be fine." Kakashi said.

Naruto stopped struggling and his face went dark, "Fine."

Hayate waited for Naruto to get back to the balcony before reaching into the box again, "Next match, Dosu vs Naruto Namikaze!"

Naruto leapt off the balcony and landed on the far side of the field. Dosu, the bandaged Oto-nin, walked down the stairs.

 **BEGIN**

Dosu rushed Naruto pulling his right arm back to punch the genin.

' _I remember breaking his arm, do they have a medic on their squad?'_ Sasuke thought.

Naruto tried to dodge the punch but was hit in the chest. He flew back and hit the far wall, while also feeling the incredible pain of bones nearly shattering.

"What the hell!" Naruto screamed, "Why am I so slow?" he questioned. He saw Dosu coming and jumped up, catching himself on the wall he bounced to the middle of the arena, "Guess I'll have to use my new specialty from Ero-sennin." blue chakra swirled around Naruto's body, turning orange as it spun. Once the entire shroud was orange Naruto stretched both arms beside him, "Adamantine Chains: Chakra Sealing Whips!" he shouted. The orange chakra wrapped around Naruto's arms, going down to his hands and extending into thirty foot long whips. Naruto whipped Dosu, wrapping him up and throwing him across the stadium. The whips receded into Naruto, who was bent over panting, "Takes a lot outta me still."

Dosu stood up, orange burn marks all over his body. He ran through hand seals quickly, "Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!" he shouted, but nothing happened. "What happened to my chakra?" he glared daggers at Naruto.

"I kinda maybe sealed it away." the blond scratched his head while grinning, "Let's finish this!" Naruto quickly ran through hand seals, ' _This is the most I can manage right now.'_ "Wind Style: Air Bullets!" Naruto shot six bullets of air from his mouth, each of them hitting Dosu and leaving shallow wounds in his chest. Dosu fell over, unconscious.

Hayate called a medical squad for both Naruto and Dosu.

"Next match, Kuai vs Sasuke!" Yahate announced. Kuai was an Iwa genin who wore a blue and black outfit. His black hair was slicked back and he had a scar on his right eye.

Sasuke grunted at his opponent, this wouldn't be hard.

 **BEGIN**

Sasuke ran at Kuai, "Lightning Style: Shocking Fists!" Sasuke's hands and feet were covered in electricity as he pummeled Kuai with taijutsu before jumping upwards, "Fire Style: Phoenix Talon!" Sasuke extended his left leg up in the air, it caught fire, which formed a large bird's talon. He raked it across Kuai and sent the teen flying back, bleeding profusely.

"Sasuke Uchiha wins his match!" Hayate said, calling yet another medic squad. They took Kuai as Sasuke was walking back to the balcony. "Next match will be Linkie vs Byatsuchi!"

Linkie was an older Konoha genin, about 16 years old. They belonged to an extinct clan that held a powerful Dojutsu named the Chaosgan. It was powerful dojutsu that allowed the wielder to teleport objects or people around them, though the range was small. With advanced users it even granted the ability to slow time around themselves. Linkie always kept the Chaosgan active, making their eyes pink with small galaxies swirling inside them.

Linkie themself wore a dark pink hoodie with black pants. He had black hair and two swords crossed on his back.

Byatsuchi was a lean teen from Iwa. He too was 16 but radiated the same aura as a veteran shinobi. He had a large spear on his back and wore a skin tight brown t-shirt along with red pants. His black hair was styled in a ponytail.

 **BEGIN**

Linkie unsheathed both their swords and ran at Byatsuchi. The Iwa genin flashed through hand seals and stomped on the ground, sending a huge boulder flying towards Linkie, who's eyes flashed as the boulder suddenly appeared behind Byatsuchi, who barely managed to dodge it in time. Linkie took advantage of Byatsuchi's disorientation and slashed him with both swords, leaving deep gashes in one of Byatsuchi's arms.

Byatsuchi spun his spear with his free arm, slamming the butt into Linkie's chest before spinnign it again and stabbing them through the left arm. "Earth Style: Stone Spear!" Byatsuchi shouted, the ground beneath Linkie became a large spear which impaled the genin's leg, causing them to cry out in pain.

Byatsuchi followed up by kicking Linkie in the face, which would have sent the genin flying had Byatsuchi removed his spear. As it was Linkie's leg was ripped open even more, causing them to begin tearing up.

"Chaosgan: Time Slow!" Linkie shouted. Time around them seemed to slow as they ripped the spear out of their leg and slashed at Byatsuchi, cutting the Iwa-genin's chest. "This is the end!" Linkie stabbed their swords forward.

"Earth Style: Stone Spear!" Byatsuchi said, twisting his foot. Linkie's Time Slow ended just before he stabbed Byatsuchi and Linkie himself ended up impaled by a spear of stone.

"That's a fantastic ability, if you were better at using it you would've won!" Byatsuchi spun his spear at Linkie's head but the genin managed to dodge.

"You're wrong, I have won!" Linkie shouted as their eyes flashed pink, "Chaosgan: Self Teleportation!" Linkie appeared behind Byatsuchi with both swords ready to stab the larger genin.

"I surrender." Byatsuchi said.

"Linkie Chaos has won!" Hayate announced, calling a medic squad for both genin and they were taken away.

"Next match, Kiba Inuzuka vs Gaara of the Sand." Kiba and Gaara both headed towards the arena, but Gaara stopped beside Sasuke.

"Sasuke Uchiha. You and Naruto will prove my existence in the finals." Gaara whispered before walking down the stairs and facing off against Kiba and Akamaru. "You should send the dog away before I kill it."

"Like you could touch Akamaru!" Kiba taunted, "I'll even let you move first!"

 **BEGIN**

Gaara raised a hand, causing a claw of sand to form underneath Kiba and squeeze his legs.

"What a foolish move." Gaara said as the sand squeezed down on Kiba's legs, nearly liquifying them, "Now you won't be able to walk anymore."

Naruto was walking back onto the balcony just at this second and glared at Gaara, "GAARA!" he screamed, about to jump down but Ino grabbed him first.

"Naruto…" Ino said, looking him in the eyes. They were filled with rage. "Kiba knew what he was getting in to. I'm sure he'll make a recovery."

Naruto held his head down, "Neji, Gaara, I promise I'll pummel both of you!"

"Me too!" Choji shouted, "Treating our friends like that!"

Shino was literally vibrating from the buzzing of his insects. He glared at Gaara as the Suna-nin as he walked up the stairs. Gaara ignored him and looked to Naruto.

"Namikaze…" the red head said, "I will allow mother to drink your blood as well."

Hayate cleared his throat, "Next match will be Misumi and Kurotsuchi." one of Kabuto's teammates, the one with glasses, walked down to the arena as well as the black haired Iwa-nin that was one of the five candidates for winning the tournament.

 **BEGIN**

"Corrosion Style: Quicklime Jutsu!" Kurotsuchi shouted, releasing a glob of gray-ish liquid from her mouth in the shape of a ball. Misumi tried to dodge it but wasn't quick enough and it caught his foot. The liquid quickly hardened into an extremely strong cement-like substance.

Misumi just smirked and jumped back as Kurotsuchi charged at him. His leg stretched nearly a meter before he stopped, taking the chance to wrap around Kurotsuchi and draw a kunai to her throat.

"I caught you!" Kurotsuchi shouted from across the arena, where she rose out of the ground, "Dispel!" the Kurotsuchi in Misumi's grasp turned into the same cement-like substance, trapping Misumi. Kurotsuchi walked up and placed an explosive tag on it, "You shouldn't have relied on that skill in the forest if you were gonna try and use it as a trump card in the tournament." she shook her head, "Anyways, give up or I'll blow you to smithereens."

Misumi tapped, "I give up, you win."

"Kurotsuchi has won this round!" Hayate announced, "Next match will be Nyxx vs Choji Akimichi!" Choji closed up his chips and walked down onto the arena floor. Nyxx, a Suna genin wearing a golden scarf and red shirt, also walked down.

 **BEGIN**

Choji cocked a fist that grew three times larger as Nyxx ran at him. "Partial Expansion Jutsu!" the Akimichi shouted.

Just as Nyxx reached him the Suna-nin jumped upwards, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Nyxx exhaled twelve small fireballs that peppered Choji, who was left with minor burns. The Akimichi swung his large arm upwards, smashing the airborne Nyxx with enough force to send him into the far wall.

"Expansion Jutsu!" Choji's entire body grew to five times its regular size, "Human Boulder!" he tucked in his arms and legs as chakra poured out like a jet engine, Choji rolled at Nyxx, smashing the genin even deeper into the wall. He bounced away and rolled back for another blow. "This should finish it!"

"Fire Style: Phoenix Talon!" Nyxx shouted, pushing himself off the wall and igniting his left foot, kicking Choji as hard as he could. "Fire Style: Phoenix Wing!" Nyxx's arms caught flames -which were shaped as large wings- and he slashed Choji with them, sending the Akimichi flying. As he hit the ground Choji shrunk to normal size.

"Well fatty I will say you're pretty strong." Nyxx said, "Can you keep going though?"

Choji stood up, rage filling his eyes, "Of course I can." chakra exploded off of the Akimichi heir as he rushed at Nyxx, "AND DON'T CALL ME FAAAAT!" Choji exploded with rage, both his arms exploding in size and covered in stones, "STONE TANK SMASH!" Choji shouted as he slammed into Nyxx with both hands, sending the scarf wearing ninja away.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Fireball Jutsu!" Nyxx shouted as he flew back, expelling flame from his mouth. The flames took the shape of a phoenix and flew at Choji, burning the preteen and leaving him unconscious.

"Nyxx is the winner of this round!" Hayate said hesitantly, he called a medic squad for Choji and they took him away.

"Choji…" Shikamaru glared at Nyxx, "Those Suna-nin are no joke." he said.

"Ya… I can't believe how strong they are. Or how ruthless." Naruto said, red chakra seemed to swirl around him until Ino put her hand on his shoulder. He looked to her and apologized.

"Next match will be Ino Yamanaka against Kimi!" Hayate announced. Ino went down to the arena. Her opponent was one of Linkie's teammates. The girl had short brown hair that went down to her shoulders with brown eyes. She wore a blue short sleeved shirt with mesh underneath along with a pair of brown pants.

 **BEGIN**

Kimi immediately ran at Ino, scalpels of chakra appearing on her hands.

"Chakra scalpels eh?" Ino asked as she danced through slashes, "Dust Spray Jutsu!" Ino shouted as she jumped away from a particularly wide slash. Ino coughed up a plume of dust.

"Hiding won't do you any good!" Kimi shouted, running right in the direction Ino was moments before, slashing the Yamanaka heiress with her scalpels, but she didn't feel any resistance as she cut the girl in two.

"Astral Clone!" Ino shouted from behind Kimi, kicking the older girl in the back and hopping back into the obscure dust. "A hidden Jutsu -or hijutsu- of my clan. It's only visible to those who I chose, and while it can't touch anyone it's a great distraction and infiltration jutsu." Ino explained, once again kicking Kimi in the back and hopping away.

Kimi closed her eyes and listened to try and figure out where Ino was. She spun around and slashed, cutting another Astral Clone in half, "Dammit come out and fight!" Kimi shouted.

"Nuh-uh!" Ino teased, throwing a kunai at Kimi's feet. As she threw the kunai Ino layered a genjutsu over Kimi, who didn't notice due to the kunai nearly impaling her pinkie toe.

"Stone Pillar Jutsu!" Kimi shouted, creating a tall pillar of stone that overlooked the battlefield. "Can't hide from me now!" she shouted. She looked around and saw Ino running up the pillar, "That won't work! Landslide Jutsu!" Kimi made two quick hand seals and slapped the pillar, causing a chunk of it to fall off on every side. The rubble hit Ino and sent her crashing into the ground, "Ha take that!" Kimi jumped off the pillar and slapped it, "Stone Arrow Jutsu!" the entire pillar shattered and every piece flew at Ino.

"Earth Style: Stone Shell!" Ino slammed her hands down, creating a dome around herself that took the attack.

"I don't like using Fire Style to attack, but I don't see another choice, Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Kimi shouted, unleashing a ball of fire that engulfed Ino's shell, melting it.

"I can also make the Astral Clone able to take a hit or two without dispelling." Ino said, stepping out of the ground, "It really is an amazing ability."

"WHOO! GO INO!" Naruto shouted from the balcony.

Ino smiled at him, "I'll end this with one more move." Ino put her hands into the Yamanaka seal and concentrated, chakra poured off of her. The chakra formed into butterflies and flew around Kimi.

"What's this?" Kimi found herself unable to move as the purple butterflies landed on and around her.

"Release." Ino opened her eyes and the chakra stopped flowing from her. Kimi noticed that the butterflies were gone, replaced with nearly a hundred explosive tags, "Now, give up or I'll detonate them."

Kimi gulped, "I… I give up." she said.

"Ino Yamanaka is the winner of the 8th match!" Hayate announced.

"That was awesome Ino!" Naruto shouted.

"That was a good match Ino." Shikamaru said.

"That was an impressive genjutsu Ino." Sakura said, "Not better than mine though."

"You think I'd bring out my best in the qualifiers?" Ino asked while fake smiling as she and Sakura butted heads.

 _And that's where I'll leave it for now. Man this chapter was fun to write. Now I have some thank yous due for the OCs so here goes._

 _For Kuai I'd like to thank u/piuwaihin on reddit, as well as for his two teammates who'll appear next chapter. For Linkie I'd like to thank Linkiepie2214 and for Kimi I'd like to thank my girlfriend, who won't be reading this but thought I'd throw it out there too. Nyxx and his teammates were all made by me. Hope you all liked the chapter! Don't forget about the poll! It'll only be up until the day after I publish the next chapter._


	13. Chunin Exams - Closing Preliminaries!

"The 9th match will be Rock Lee and Torr of Iwa!" Hayate announced. Lee jumped down, clad in his green jumpsuit and orange leg warmers. Torr was a large man, so tall he had to hunch over. He wore nothing but chains and a pair of black shorts.

 **BEGIN**

Lee rushed Torr, appearing behind the large genin and unleashing a flurry of blows that knocked the teen on his face. Lee jumped into the air and delivered a brutal ax-kick to Torr's back. "YOSH!" Lee shouted as he jumped up again, spinning and slamming a second heel into the man's back. "Let's see you get up after that!" Lee jumped away.

Torr stood up slowly. He looked to Lee and ran on all fours, shoulder checking Lee and continuing on into the wall, where he slammed Lee out into the forest.

Torr stood up and slammed both fists on his chest, roaring at Lee, who was standing up.

"Quite impressive." Lee said as he dusted himself off, "Had I not been training under Gai-sensei that may have beaten me. But as it is you will need to do much more to me to win." Lee front kicked Toor, sending him back into the stadium. The bowl-haired genin followed, jumping in the air and leading with a kick, "DYNAMIC ENTRY!" he screamed, hitting Torr in the face with bone crushing force. Lee flipped back and landed as Torr soared through the air, hitting the far wall of the arena and flopping to the ground.

"The winner is-" Hayate was cut off as Torr stood up and roared.

"Ha, you're in for it now, Torr has entered his berserk state." A teenage girl on the balcony said. She was short with greasy black hair that went down to her knees. She had long metal attachments on her fingers and was wearing a dirty red Iwa-nin outfit.

"And who're you?" Ino asked.

"I am Ferra, Torr and Kuai's teammate." the girl responded, "I've known Torr since childhood. Whenever he starts to get hurt he enters a berserk rage. It usually takes Tremor-sensei to stop him."

"Lee's got this." Naruto said, turning to the match, "TAKE THIS GUY DOWN LEE!" the blond shouted.

"You got this Lee!" Tenten shouted before turning to Ferra, "Lee is a lot stronger than the goofy appearance leads people to believe, don't count him out just yet."

Lee was dodging Torr's manic punches while trying to get a hit in but it seemed like no matter what he did nothing hurt the behemoth. Torr slammed both hands down like a hammer and Lee jumped back, throwing shuriken that imbedded themselves in the monster.

Lee shook his head as he dodged Torr again, "I did not want to use this yet." he jumped up as Torr bulldozed towards him. In the air Lee kicked towards Torr, sending a metal rod flying at the monster, knocking him prone. Lee kicked with his other foot and hit Torr in the head, dazing him.

Lee landed and rushed for his sticks, grabbing both and clicking them together, forming a bo staff. Torr began to stand up and Lee unloaded on his face, seemingly hitting the man faster than his brain could process as Lee jumped away before Torr roared in agony and fell unconscious.

"The winner is Rock Lee!" Hayate announced, "now can I have a volunteer to fix the wall?"

Kakashi shook his head and walked down to the shattered wall, "Earth Style: Mud Wall." Kakashi lazily spat mud onto the shattered wall. THe mud quickly hardened and filled in the gaps.

Hayate broke out in a coughing fit while trying to clear his throat, "Next match, Kin against Shino Aburame!"

Shino stood opposite the female Oto-nin. "You should surrender now. I am not in a good mood" Shino said.

"Ya right." Kin spat, "Like I'm afraid of you."

 **BEGIN**

Kin ran at Shino only to plow through a body of insects, all of which stuck to her.

"Drink her dry." Shino said maliciously, he heard the story from Ino on their way to the tower and he was not happy with the Oto ninja, "Teach her to attack my friends and allies."

Kin screamed as the chakra was sucked from her body. After an entire minute the swarm went back to Shino, travelling through his sleeves. Kin was laying there, unconscious.

"Ummm, Shino Aburame is the winner…" Hayate said, man that kid was brutal. He called a medical squad for Kin and announced the next match, "Next will be Shikamaru Nara against Hawk!"

"What a drag." Shikamaru dragged himself up and walked calmly down to the arena floor. Across from him was Nyxx's teammate, the man with a bandaged torso.

 **BEGIN**

Hawk jumped into the air. Wind chakra seemed to spiral around his arms and legs as he propelled himself towards Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru you've gotta win!" Naruto shouted.

"Do it for Choji and Hinata!" Ino shouted.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered as he jumped away from Hawk's attack, which left a small drill hole where he landed. Shikamaru inhaled and went through a few hand signs, "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" he exhaled a large fireball that flew at Hawk, who wasn't fast enough to dodge it. A large plume of dust erupted, leaving Hawk standing there, burnt all over.

The Suna-nin punched his hands together, creating the drill-like wind spirals around his fists. He ran towards Shikamaru, who quickly placed his hands into the family seal.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru's shadow extended across the ground, making contact with Hawk's. The two stood in exactly the same position until Shikamaru changed their posture and pulled out a kunai. Hawk did the exact same movement however Shikamaru had his kunai pouch on the opposite leg Hawk did. "Surrender or I'll kill you." Shikamaru said. Hawk did nothing and received a kunai to the chest. Shikamaru drew another kunai, "Surrender."

Hawk once again did nothing. Shikamaru prepared to throw the kunai.

"Shikamaru Nara is the winner of this match!" Hayate announced.

Shikamaru released the jutsu and walked up to Hawk, "Sorry about that. Why didn't you give up?"

Hawk ignored him and walked to the balcony.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru walked back to his spot beside Naruto.

"Next match, Tenten Tentetsu vs Kankuro of the Sands!" Hayate announced with a cough.

Tenten walked down and faced off with Kankuro, who unwrapped the bandages on his back to reveal a puppet.

 **BEGIN**

Tenten started off by pulling out a scroll and unleashing a torrent of shuriken at Kankuro, who stood behind his puppet as the metal bounced off it's carapace.

"How's this?" Tenten appeared behind Kankuro with two chinese broadswords. Kankuro ducked underneath a slash that would've taken is head off and kicked Tenten in the stomach.

He jumped back and wiggled his fingers. His puppet flashed towards Tenten with its large claws extended. It slashed continuously, Tenten barely stopping every hit with her swords.

"Is that all you got?" Tenten asked as she blocked both arms at once.

Kankuro laughed, pulling both his ring fingers back. Two extra arms popped out of his puppet, each with deadly claws of their own. "I don't think so! GO Crow!" Kankuro began a wild dance with his fingers. Crow began slashing at Tenten faster than before, yet she managed to get away.

Tenten was panting like crazy, "You're good, for a guy that wears makeup." she smirked.

Kankuro snapped, "IT'S NOT MAKEUP IT'S WARPAINT!" he screamed. Crow flew at Tenten, who readied her swords and ran at the puppet, ducking underneath and cutting the strings.

Kankuro cursed and ran at Tenten, ducking under a sword slash and lashing out with a kick that was checked by the kunoichi. Tenten spun both her swords and stabbed them down towards the puppeteer, only to be hit by the puppet's claws.

Kankuro had a grin on his face as he tugged his left thumb. He had reinforced the string with most of his remaining chakra, but Tenten hadn't noticed and it had cost her.

Tenten collapsed on the ground, spasming. Kankuro wrapped his puppet up.

A medic squad was called immediately to get the poison out of her system.

Hayate looked sour as he announced Kankuro's victory.

"Hate to say it but he's good." Sasuke said as he watched Kankuro go to stand beside Temari and Gaara.

"Next match, Ferra vs Sakura!" Hayate announced. Sakura walked down and faced off against the small teen.

 **BEGIN**

Both kunoichi immediately began rushing through hand seals, laying a genjutsu on each other. Sakura ran forwards but once she got close enough she saw three versions of Ferra.

Ferra couldn't see Sakura anymore.

Sakura quickly released the genjutsu on her and punched Ferra in the face, sending the small girl flying. Sakura once again ran through hand seals, "Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!" she shouted. Ferra soon found herself stuck in a dead tree, with Sakura holding a kunai to her throat.

"Sakura Haruno is the winner!" Hayate announced. Ferra cursed and walked away, only to step through one of the stairs leading to the balcony and fall on her face.

Ferra's eyes widened as she felt a knife in her back. The genjutsu Sakura put on her shattered and she fell to the floor. Her spine had been severed by the kunai.

"Woah Sakura that was vicious!" Naruto said. "She was just trying to get up onto the balcony."

Sakura looked up, "I learnt pretty quickly that you do what needs to be done to win." Sakura said.

Shino nodded, "It is true. Our first C-Rank mission was to eliminate a bandit camp. Kurenai-sensei had us murder everyone. We didn't even manage to rescue the hostages."

"Woah, that's rough." Ino said.

"Sure ain't easy." Sasuke said with a nod.

"Sakura Haruno is the winner of the 13th match!" Hayate announced. "Next match will be Ayato Hattori against Zaku!"

Ayato was the final member of Linkie's team and the de facto leader. He was tall for his age, which was 14 as opposed to his teammate's 16. He had managed to graduate two years early. His shaggy black hair was styled similar to the second Hokage and he wore a black sleeveless hoodie with a long sleeved red shirt underneath. His black pants had a red streak down the sides. He wore arm guards on both arms.

Zaku grunted at him, "You ready to die?"

Ayato did not answer.

"I know that guy, he's friends with my cousin." Shikamaru said, "He's smart. Beaten me at shogi a few times."

"Woah." Naruto was impressed, it was no easy feat to beat Shikamaru at shogi.

"His clan was wiped out during the nine tails attack, but they're strong. Your father is actually a distant member Naruto." Shikamaru said. "His adopted father is actually the proctor. If I had noticed him earlier I would've said hi."

 **BEGIN**

Ayato dodged Zaku's initial bursts of wind, appearing behind the teen and cracking him in the head with a powerful kick before reappearing where he stood before.

"Woah, does he know the Shunshin?" Naruto asked, "Cause if he does Imma ask him to teach me."

"It's called the Swift Style." Shikamaru said, "It's his clan's kekkei genkai."

Ayato ducked under Zaku's second attempt at an attack and delivered three quick punches to the boy's face before plowing a knee into his stomach.

Zaku fell to his knees. Ayato stood above him, "I'll stop if you give up." the boy said.

Zaku spat at him.

"I gave you a chance." Ayato shook his head and grabbed Zaku by the hair, lifting him up and throwing him in the air. Ayato jumped up and delivered a painful flurry of punches to the teen's torso before cocking a leg back and kicking him in the jaw, sending him even further up. Ayato landed and Zaku fell, hitting the ground hard.

"Ayato Hattori is the winner of this match!" Hayate announced.

"WHOO!" Linkie shouted, "Good job Ayato!"

"Thanks Linkie." Ayato nodded and went to sit in the back corner, sparing Shikamaru a shy nod.

"Next match, Yoroi and Frogg." Hayate said. The girl in a green one piece suit from Nyxx's team and the final member of Kabuto's team -the one without glasses- walked onto the arena.

 **BEGIN**

Frogg inhaled immediately, "Water Style: Raging Waves!" she shot a jet of water that pierced Yoroi's chest, killing him instantly.

Frogg tilted her head and hopped over to the body, "Wow, Water Style is a lot stronger outside of the desert…" she said before shrugging and hopping back onto the balcony.

"Frogg is the winner of the match, and can I have a cleanup squad over here." Hayate coughed. A group came to dispose of Yoroi's body. "Alright next match is Temari of the Sand against Akatsuchi!"

Temari opened her fan and used it to float down, while Akatsuchi, a large and tubby teen, walked down slowly.

 **BEGIN**

Temari whipped her fan, sending a burst of wind whipping towards Akatsuchi, who clapped, raising a wall of earth to defend himself.

"Earth Style: Rock Golem." Akatsuchi said timidly, his wall becoming a stone humanoid who rushed towards Temari.

"Wind Style: Slicing Gale!" Temari spun her fan around, creating a blade of wind that cut the golem in half.

Akatsuchi concentrated his chakra, "Earth Style: Army Creation!" he shouted. The ground around him slowly turned into golems. The large teen fell to his knees due to strain and sweat started dripping down his face.

Soon there were 12 golems charging Temari. She managed to take two of them out but the remaining 10 swarmed her, pummeling her with powerful punches and kicks.

Akatsuchi made a hand seal to dispel them as soon as Temari was unconscious.

"And Akatsuchi has become our last finalist!" Hayate said. "I will now announce the matchups for the actual tournament. It will go by your match number, with the first place match winner facing the third and the second facing the fourth and so on."

A screen popped into view behind Hayate. The screen had the matchups on it.

 **Neji Hyuga vs Sasuke Uchiha**

 **Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki vs Linkie Chaos**

 **Gaara of the Sand vs Nyxx**

 **Kurotsuchi vs Ino Yamanka**

 **Rock Lee vs Shikamaru Nara**

 **Shino Aburame vs Kankuro of the Sand**

 **Sakura Haruno vs Frogg**

 **Ayato vs Akatsuchi**

"Sasuke, you'd better kick Neji's ass." Naruto said.

"Do you doubt me Naruto?" the Uchiha asked with a smug grin.

Sarutobi stepped up beside Hayate, "Any one of you who compete in the tournament can be selected for chunin. It will be up to the Tsuchikage, Kazekage, and I to decide." the old man said, "That being said winning will not guarantee you a chunin promotion, only those who truly embody the qualities of a chunin will pass. You're grades in the other portions will of course also be taken into consideration."

"And what are these qualities that make a chunin?" Kurotsuchi asked, her arms crossed.

"Now if you don't know that you aren't ready to be a chunin my dear." Sarutobi smirked, Oonoki's granddaughter was powerful with her Corrosion Style but subtlety wouldn't be her strong suit. "You will all have a month to train before your matches, I hope you use it well. Good luck."

Naruto immediatly looked towards Kakashi, "KAKASHI-SENSEI!" he shouted, "Train Sasuke! I'm gonna go see Ero-sennin!"

Kakashi feigned a hurt look and placed his hand on his chest, "Now Naruto don't you wanna train with me?"

"I've learned a lot from you already, but Ero-sennin has been teaching me fuinjutsu and I'm getting pretty good so I'm going to train with him."

Kakashi shrugged, "Can't argue with that. Ino would you like to come along?"

Ino shook her head, "I can't Kakashi-sensei, I'm going to be taking an extra special lesson with my father. Something about the clan's most powerful technique tree or something." she shrugged, "But I wouldn't mind getting some taijutsu training if you tell me where you'll be I'll make some time to pop by."

Kakashi nodded and scribbled down a note for Ino. "Alright Sasuke, let's move." Sasuke nodded and followed Kakashi, waving goodbye to his teammates.

 _And that's where I'll leave this chapter. I'm gonna skip the training so next chapter is right into the finals! Hope you all enjoyed it. Now for special thanks, again for Torr and Ferra I'd like to thank u/puiwaihin on reddit, Frogg and Hawk are my own creations and for Ayato, one of my favourite OCs ever, I'd like to thank ZeroTailedJinchuuriki, hope I did your character proud this round! Thanks for reading!_


	14. Chunin Tournament - 1

"Hinata! Kiba!" Choji called over to his friends, "Come sit over here!" Hinata had made a perfect recovery from her fight. Kiba unfortunately was stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Gaara had completely shattered his legs, they wouldn't heal properly without divine intervention. Hinata wheeled Kiba over to there Choji was sitting and sat in between the two.

The stadium was bustling, not only was Naruto fighting in the chunin exam finals but so were the last Uchiha, the Fourth Kazekage's son, and the Third Tsuchikage's granddaughter. They were in for some good matches.

The Hokage, as well as the Kazekage and Tsuchikage, stood on a podium in the middle of the arena. Behind them was Genma, a jonin who always had a senbon in his mouth.

"Welcome all to the chunin exam finals. We will watch eight matches today. The chunin candidates will be randomly selected for their matches." Sarutobi said.

"What? We already know the matches!" Naruto shouted from the platform where the competitors stood.

Shikamaru shook his head, "No, we don't. They had us prepare for the wrong kind of fight." he looked towards Asuma, who stood with the other Konoha jonin teachers. Asuma nodded at his student.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered.

"Genma Shiranui will be the proctor for these exams." the Hokage said, "I'll leave the rest to him."

The three kage all disappeared, appearing in the kage box with a bodyguard each.

"Thank you Lord Hokage." Genma said, "Well I'm not gonna keep you waiting any longer, the first match will be as follows!" a box materialised in his hands and he pulled out two names, "Linkie Chaos and Sasuke Uchiha!"

However Sasuke wasn't there yet. No doubt Kakashi's doing.

Linkie was waiting, idly stabbing the ground with his swords. Genma was impatient and the crowd was shouting insults.

A messenger appeared at Genma's side and whispered something before disappearing.

"We have decided to wait until the end of the third match for Sasuke's arrival." Genma said, "Linkie you may return to the stands until Sasuke gets here. Instead the first match will be Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka."

Both girls nodded at each other as they walked down to the arena floor.

"No hard feelings Sakura?" Ino asked, putting her right hand up with two fingers outstretched.

Sakura made the same sign and nodded, "Don't worry Ino, I know you won't hold a grudge."

 **BEGIN**

Genma jumped away as two kunai clanged together right where he stood. Ino junged at Sakura with a series of kicks that were barely dodged. Sakura retaliated with a powerful punch that knocked Ino back.

"Earth Style: Rock Fists!" Sakura shouted, weaving three hand seals and jumping back, tapping the ground. Three toddler sized fists made of stone were created and flew at Ino.

The blond jumped over the first one and ducked under the second simultaneously. The third nearly hit her but she quickly made two hand seals, "Dust Spray!" Ino spat out a cloud of dust.

The fist Sakura had created flew across the stadium, flying out of the dust and towards the wall, where it shattered, leaving a blood splatter.

"Ino I know you're still in this, don't give up so easily!" Sakura shouted. She spun around, trying to spot her rival but could see nothing. In the far corner there was a small pool of water with a few trees, they provided most of, if not all, the natural cover in the arena, and were the best spot to hide. Of course there was the dust cloud too, but Ino most likely used a substitution jutsu to escape, the blood was probably from a packet or something.

 _Drip drip drip drip drip_

Sakura spun to face the dust cloud, which was settling now. Ino stood there, one of her legs gross and mangled, dripping blood.

"I caught you Sakura." Ino smirked, making a circle with her hands, "Mind Transfer Jutsu!" In's body slumped over as Sakura's spine straightened.

 **Inside Sakura's Mindscape**

A room with a giant picture of Sakura and all her friends and family above a fireplace. A large television on the opposite wall.

"How does it feel Sakura?" Ino asked, sitting on a comfy purple armchair. Sakura was tied up against a wooden kitchen chair, "To have me able to control your body, and be able to see any memories I want to?" Ino walked to the edge of the room, where a door come into existence, "Should I go to your first crush?"

"NONONONONO!" Sakura shouted, "Kiba was not a crush! I said he as cute one time and we were, like, 7! He had a puppy Ino!"

Ino laughed, "Oh Sakura you're so cute." she patted the pinkette's head. "Alright I'll get out, sorry I just had to see how you laid this place out." Ino winked.

 **In the arena**

Sakura looked towards Genma, "I give." she said, walking back to the competitor stands.

Ino's head snapped up and she looke dto the crowd, both hands up in the air, "THAT'S RIGHT! I, the beautiful Ino Yamanaka, have won the first match of the chunin exams!" she shouted, causing the crowd to roar in applause, "Now please give it up for my riva Sakura Haruno!"

Ino was suddenly punched in the face by Sakura and sent skidding along the dirt.

"I didn't say I gave up Ino, you only said 'I give'." Sakura smirked as she ran up and kicked Ino hard in the stomach.

Ino laughed, "Ya I thought I would get you with that." she stood up and stretched her arms, "Time to get serious I guess." Ino rapidly went through hand seals, "Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!"

Ino appeared above Sakura in a tree that had wrapped around the pinkette. Sakura looked up and saw a large ball of flames coming towards the arena.

"Ino look out!" Sakura pushed her rival away as the meteor hit, charring the tree and the pinkette.

Sakura didn't feel any burns as she woke up. She looked around and saw Kiba and Shino, dead. Akamaru was eating one of Kiba's legs. She fearfully stepped back bumping into Kurenai.

"Kurenai-sensei help me!" Sakura cried, only to watch Kurenai explode into dust.

"This… this can't be real…" Sakura looked around, seeing more and more of the people she cared about dead or dying. She watched herself dancing with blades of stone, cutting down her parents, Iruka-sensei, the Hokage, all of them fell before her blade.

Sakura fell to her knees, "No, I can't…"

"Sakura Haruno has seemingly lost the will to fight, Ino Yamanaka is the-" Genma's voice rang out through the world.

"RELEASE!" Sakura shouted, pouring more than half her chakra into breaking the genjutsu.

Sakura stood up, "Nice one Ino." she smirked, "I didn't expect that from you." she outstretched both hands, the stone rose up and cormed two swords, "But it did give me an idea."

Ino smirked, "Well those are rare for you Sakura." Ino ran at Sakura and jumped over her slash, "If you knew how to use those I'd be in trouble but as it stands…" Ino rolled under another slash and dashed towards the pool of water, making a one handed dragon seal, "HYDRO BLADE JUTSU!" she dipped her hand into the water and pulled out a spear made of water, "I have the upper hand in weapons!"

Sakura and Ino clashed weapons a few times. Sakura's swords craved right through Ino's spear, but die to the long reach of the polearm, Ino was never hit while Sakura received a few stabs.

Ino jumped back from a cross slash, landing in an awkward position. As Sakura charged her however, Ino twisted her foot, making a small wall of earth underneath her rival's foot. Sakura tripped forwards. Ino stood up and pointed her spear at Sakura's throat, "Surrender."

Sakura tapped the ground twice, "I give up."

"Ino Yamanka is the winner of the first match!" Genma announced. "Moving on the second match will be Shikamaru Nara and Kankuro of the Sand."

Kankuro shook his head, "I give up."

Genma looked bewildered, "Seriously?"

"I'm not fighting him. He can stop my puppets too easily with those shadows." Kankuro shrugged.

"Fine fine, next match, "Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga!"

Lee jumped down, "I am ready to show everyone the power of my youth. I will surpass you Neji!"

Neji appeared in a swirl of leaves, "Lee, had you been luckier perhaps we would have met in the finals, however destiny has seen it fit for you to lose here. I apologise." Neji said, activating his Byakugan.

"LEE!" Naruto yelled, "Beat that destiny stuff out of Neji's head!"

"Naruto!" Lee shouted, "I will show Neji that the fires of youth can defeat destiny even if they burn hot enough!"

"Enough talk, time for action." Genma said.

 **BEGIN**

Lee looked at Neji, "Neji, please activate your Byakugan. I do not wish to have a handicap in this match."

Neji smirked, "Very well. Byakugan!" the veins around his eyes popped as his eyes lost their color.

"Thank you." Lee bowed. He unfastened his leg warmers, holding them up to reveal a set of weights. "I will not grant you a handicap either." Lee dropped the weights, creating two large craters and a humongus plume of dust.

"Gai what the hell?" Asuma asked his fellow jonin.

"Lee is dedicated to being the best. I will help him achieve his goal. I stand beside Lee's dream of being recognised as an excellent shinobi based on taijutsu alone." Gai said.

"Hmm, you really care for the boy." Asuma nodded, "That's good."

"Even with those weights off you cannot defeat me Lee, destiny has spoken!" Neji dashed at Lee, striking with a flurry of palms. Lee managed to dodge every one of them.

"We shall see, Severe Leaf Hurricane!" Lee spun around, smashing his foot into Neji's back and sending the Hyuga stumbling forwards. "Leaf Triple Hwechook!" Lee appeared in front of Neji and brought his leg up for a kick. He kicked Neji in the chin then stepped back, stepping in for another kick he hit Neji in the temple on the opposite side of his face. Lee side stepped and kicked one last time, hitting Neji in the back of the head and putting the prodigy on the ground.

"You have done well, fighting destiny to this point Lee. Very well. However no matter how much you struggle destiny will prevail." Neji get up and ran at Lee, striking him in both arms with a series of jabs. Lee jumped back, kicking sand into Neji's eyes.

"I am sorry Neji, but you are wrong." Lee said. He ran at Neji but was stopped by a palm to the stomach that sent him flying.

Lee managed to get up, blood trailing from his lips, "Gai-sensei, I'm sorry to do this on Neji but I must accomplish my goal, and if I cannot, I will train even harder still!" Lee inhaled, gathering chakra, "The Eight Inner Gates! First Gate, the Gate of Opening, OPEN!" Lee's arms sprung up as a gust of wind blew from around him, "Second Gate, the Gate of Healing, OPEN!" he began hopping up and down, his energy fully restored, "Third Gate, the Gate of Life, OPEN!" Lee's skin turned red and his veins nearly popped from his skin.

Lee then appeared in front of Neji, his knee buried in the boy's stomach. Neji looked down and back up before he went flying.

"Nice trick Lee." Neji said, wiping blood from his mouth, "I will show you mine now."

Lee appeared in front of Neji, going for another Severe Leaf Hurricane, "KAITEN!" Neji spun around, releasing chakra and creating a dome that sent Lee flying.

The bowl-haired boy was bleed from his right leg from the recoil of his kick, his bones nearly broken from recoil.

"You are within my field of divination Lee, I'm sorry but it ends here. Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji appeared in front of Lee, "TWO!" he slammed two palms into Lee, "FOUR!" two more, "EIGHT!" four more, "SIXTEEN!" eight more, "THIRTY-TWO!" sixteen more, "SIXTY-FOUR!" thirty-two more.

Lee went flying, landing right on his back. He somehow managed to will himself to a standing position, "Neji, you are a worthy adversary. The Eight Inner Gates, the Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain, OPEN! The Fifth Gate, Gate of Closing, OPEN!" energy poured from Lee's body. He screamed in pain as his chakra points were forcefully opened. He appeared in the air above Neji, "LEAF DROP!" he shouted.

"KAITEN!" Neji created his barrier.

Lee hit the barrier with his kick, tearing right through it and slamming his heel into neji's shoulder.

Lee stumbled back, his right leg completely mangled from the impact. Neji was standing but his left shoulder looked to be shattered.

"Neji, I will change destiny here." Lee stumbled towards Neji, who was frozen in shock.

"You… you broke the unbeatable defense of the Hyuga… the Kaiten is a main branch technique, I risked everything to learn it and you broke right through it, how?"

"Hard Work and Determination." Lee said, standing in front of Neji. Lee cocked a fist back and punched Neji in the face, knocking his rival out.

Lee looked up at Gai and smiled, "I did it Gai-sensei!" He shouted before his skin returned to normal and he fell on his back.

"ROCK LEE is the winner of this match!" Genma shouted. He called a medic squad for the two. They came and took them away.

"Was it really worth it kid?" Genma asked silently. "Next match will be Ayato vs Frogg!"

Ayato stepped onto the arena floor with a sword at his waist. He seemed to have bags under his eyes as if he weren't sleeping well lately.

Frogg hopped down and looked at Ayato. _He knows, finish him quickly!_ The words rang through her head and she looked up to the Kage stand and nodded towards the Kazekage.

 **BEGIN**

"Water Style: Piercing Needles!" Frogg blasted needles of water towards Ayato.

The Konoha-nin merely activated his Swift Release kekkei genkai and walked around the needles. Drawing his sword he dashed at Frogg and sliced one of her arms clean off.

"You Suna bastards killed the man who became my father, murdered him in cold blood." Ayato looked towards Baki in the stands, "Don't pretend to be our-"

His shout was cut off by a flurry of water needles stabbing him in the back, knocking him to the ground.

"Water Style: Raging Waves!" Frogg shouted, hopping into the air and inhaling as she made one handed hand seals. She expelled a torrent of water that flew towards Ayato's prone form.

"Swift Style: Teleportation!" Ayato shouted. He disappeared, having teleported into the trees nearby.

Frogg landed and looked around. She turned to the trees, which were right beside a pool of water, and hopped into the water. Closing her eyes she became one with the water. She could see from the surface now, and would know when he resurfaced.

Frogg's eyes widened as she swam upwards.

"Lightning Style: Current." Ayato's voice rang out. He stepped up to the water and placed his lightning covered sword into the pool. The electricity swam from the blade into the entire pool, causing Frogg to begin convulsing.

"I win." Ayato walked away.

Genma peered into the pool and saw an unconscious and convulsing Frogg at the bottom. He dove in and grabbed her, coming out with sparks flying off him. He summoned another medical squad for the girl.

"Ayato Hattori has won this match!" Genma announced. "Next match will be Kurotsuchi and Nyxx!"

* * *

 _And that's where I'll leave it. I hope you all enjoyed it. Writing the Lee and Neji fight was just so satisfying. I actually had so much trouble with it though, because Neji is a personal favourite of mine (probably because I love the Byakugan and Gentle Fist so much) and so every draft had him winning the fight but my plans have Lee winning, plus I had to fan his FLAMES OF YOUTH! Anyways thanks for reading!_

 _In regards to the poll, I decided that since both the 'no' and 'maybe another fic' added up higher than the 'yes' option, I'll write a separate fic about a Narutoverse with gods. Not sure when it'll be up but I've started planning it, don't hesitate to PM for for details if you're interested._


	15. Chunin Tournament - 2

"Ayato Hattori has won this match!" Genma announced. "Next match will be Kurotsuchi and Nyxx!"

Kurotsuchi walked onto the arena floor. Across from her Nyxx was fixing his golden scarf. He watched her tighten her headband.

 **BEGIN**

Kurotsuchi immediately inhaled, "Corrosion Style: Quicklime Jutsu!" she spat out a gray ball of liquid.

"Fire Style: Searing Heat Jutsu!" Nyxx shouted. He radiated from his body, quickly hardening Kurotsuchi's jutsu into barely more than a piece of stone. He sidestepped and threw three shuriken.

Kurotsuchi flicked a kunai into her hand and batted away the shuriken before running towards Nyxx. She jumped in the air and dropped her heel down towards his head. Nyxx's guard came up just in time to block the kick, though the force still broke the ground underneath him a bit.

Kurotsuchi bounced back, running her hands along the ground as she went, "Earth Style: Stone Skin!" rocks floated around her for a moment before attaching to her skin, making a layer of armor. Kurotsuchi ran at Nyxx, slightly slower than before.

"Fire Style: Melting Pit Jutsu!" Nyxx placed both hands on the ground and heated up a large section, melting it and causing Kurotsuchi to get stuck. Chakra swirled around the noirette as she struggled through. Nyxx's eyes opened wide as she punched him in the face before stepping out of his jutsu.

"Bastard." Kurotsuchi glared at Nyxx, "I should kill you." she made a long series of hand seals. "Fire Style: Immolation Jutsu!" Kurotsuchi expelled a white-hot cone of flames.

Nyxx was gone when the flames ended. Nothing remained but a pile of ashes and a golden scarf.

"Phoenix Style: Ashes!" Nyxx's voice rang out. The ashes began to spark, erupting into a full on flame that took the shape of Nyxx. He bent over and wrapped the scarf around his neck, the colors and solidity returning to the flames. "Phoenix Style: Flames of Rebirth!" a ball of fire flew towards Kurotsuchi, who was barely able to move from her previous attack.

Oonoki appeared in front of the ball, "Earth Style: Guardian!" the old man shouted, erecting a wall with a stag's face in the center. The wall took the blast -which erupted with enough power shake the Kage booth- and stood firm.

"Unfortunately there has been an outside influence on this match in Kurotsuchi's favor, so I must give the match to Nyxx from Suna." Genma said.

Oonoki glared at the teen, "Try something like that again and I'll vaporize you."

"You saw how well that worked old man." Nyxx glared, "I'm a descendant of The Phoenix, I don't fear you." golden embers radiated off of Nyxx as he stared down the Tsuchikage.

"Oonoki!" Sarutobi's voice rang out, "I do not mean to be rude, but we should allow the matches to continue."

Oonoki glared at Sarutobi before floating back up to the Kage booth, granddaughter in his arms even though she dwarfed the small man in size.

Genma shook his head, ' _that was unexpected.'_ he said to himself, ' _To think that guy had a family legacy this entire time…'_ he shook his head, those were thoughts for later, "Next match…"

"Sorry we're late." Sasuke's voice rang throughout the arena, "We ran across a black cat and had to go all the way around the village to make sure we didn't ross it's path. Bad luck and all."

"Aww man Kakashi-sensei got to him!" Naruto facepalmed.

Genma shook his head at Kakashi, who was standing nonchalantly with the other Konoha jonin, as if he had been there the entire time.

"Next match will be Linkie Chaos and Sasuke Uchiha." Genma announced with a sigh.

Sasuke jumped from the open roof of the coliseum onto the arena floor. Linkie bounced on their feet, leaping from the balcony onto the floor in a front flip.

Linkie drew their swords, "I understand being scared, but not showing up at all? Is the Uchiha legacy really this pathetic?" they asked.

Sasuke scoffed, "Please, you're the least scary person here." Sasuke's Sharingan spun as it activated. He tapped his waist twice and unsealed a wakizashi which he tied to his waist. "I mean, the Chaosgan is barely heard of for a reason."

 **BEGIN**

Linkie slashed at Sasuke with their swords. Sasuke jumped back and drew his own sword. He blocked another of Linkie's slashes and kicked towards the teen.

Linkie jumped back, "Lightning Style: Thunder Blades!" Linkie's swords were covered in lightning. They ran towards Sasuke and slashed with incredible speed. Sasuke blocked a couple slashes before ducking down, sweeping Linkie's legs from under them. Linkie hit the ground and Sasuke brought a heel down onto his chest.

The air rushed out of Linkie's chest as Sasuke brought a fist down onto his face. Linkie managed to roll out of the way and lash out with a kick to Sasuke's face.

Sasuke jumped back holding his face. He twisted his nose back into place and glared at Linkie, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke exhaled a huge fireball towards Linkie.

"Chaosgan: Teleportation!" Linkie shouted. Suddenly the fireball was behind Linkie. It flew towards a wall and melted the concrete.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted. He spat out nearly thirty small fireballs.

"Chaosgan: Teleportation!" Linkie shouted again, teleporting all of the fireballs away.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Ball!" Sasuke threw a huge ball of lightning towards Linkie. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" another thirty fireballs, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" a huge fireball.

"Chaosgan: Teleportation!" Linkie shouted. A visible strain was visible on their face as they teleported all of Sasuke's attacks away. Linkie blinked and saw Sasuke in front of him.

Sasuke plowed a fist into Linkie's stomach, following up with a second, then a third. Sasuke kicked them in the side and slashed Linkie across the chest.

Linkie stood up, their swords were on the other side of the arena. With a blink the swords appeared in their hands. "Lightning Style: Thunder Blade! Wind Style: Tornado Blade!" one of Linkie's blades was covered in lightning and the other in a vortex of sharp winds. They ran towards Sasuke, who slipped between both slashes and slammed a palm into Linkie's chest, sending the teen flying back to a wall.

"I'll show you the jutsu that Kakashi taught me." Sasuke said, he gripped his left wrist, chakra grew around his left hand, which started changing into lightning, "CHIDORI!" the sound of thousands of birds chirping filled the arena as Sasuke ran towards Linkie. He plunged the jutsu into the wall beside Linkie's head.

Genma was holding Sasuke's wrist, "Thank you for not killing a fellow Leaf shinobi. Sasuke Uchiha takes the victory!"

The crowd roared. Sasuke held a hand out to Linkie, who shook his hand.

"Good match, you're stronger than I thought." Sasuke said.

"Ya you too, I didn't expect that last jutsu, next time I'll win though." Linkie smirked.

Genma waited until both were up on the balcony before announcing the next match, "Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki facing off against Shino Aburame!"

"Hey Shino, looks like we get out match after all. Sorry you won't get revenge for Kiba, but I'll be sure to pummel him next round." Naruto said to his friend.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Naruto. Why? you ask, because I intend to win." Shino responded.

The two walked down together, making a sign of respect and nodding at each other before the match began.

"No hard feelings?" Naruto asked.

"The stronger shinobi will win." Shino nodded.

"Good."

 **BEGIN**

Naruto started off quickly, running straight at Shino, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he made eleven clones in a circle around Shino, all running directly at the Aburame, "Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!" Naruto and each of his clones shot a flurry of highly compressed air towards Shino.

"Hijutsu: Spider's Shell!" Shino shouted. Ultra-tough spider silk flew from his baggy sleeves and made a shell around him, blocking the bullets.

Naruto leapt upwards, having noticed the Earth chakra beneath him. Shino burst from the ground.

"Hijutsu: Beetle Sphere!" from Shino's sleeves flew thousands of chakra sucking insects that flew in a ball towards Naruto.

One of Naruto's clone kicked Shino in the back, but was quickly enveloped by the bugs, his chakra sapped until he popped. Suddenly all of Naruto's clones popped.

"You have fallen for my trap Naruto." Shino said, pushing his sunglasses up slightly, "Your clones are useless against my kikaichu."

Naruto himself was being enveloped in the insects. "Sorry Shino, I didn't wanna hurt any of the insects, I'll do my best not to kill them."

Shino's eyes widened as he saw his insects flying away from Naruto, terrified.

The blond was covered in a thin layer of scarlet chakra. His whisker marks were darkened and his nails looked like claws. "Sorry Shino, I hope they don't get sick. It's just the only thing I could think of short of a powerful wind or fire jutsu."

"I have no ill will towards you Naruto. I am thankful you care enough about them." Shino said, "They will be fine."

"Good, let's continue then." Naruto said. His whisker marks and nails returned to normal as the chakra seeped back into his skin, "I hate using that."

Naruto and Shino met in a clash of fists, each hitting the other a few times but mainly evading and being evaded. Shino decided to change it up and kneed Naruto in the stomach, knocking the air from his lungs. Shino followed up with a hammer fist to Naruto's head, putting the jinchuuriki on the ground.

The Aburame jumped away as Naruto's body exploded. Suddenly seven blonds appeared around Shino, each hitting him with a different combo.

"Here's the finisher!" Naruto's voice came from above. Shino looked to the sky as he was about to hit the ground and saw a shadow in the sun, growing larger. Soon he could make out Naruto dropping down at him, a blue orb in his right hand.

"Sorry Shino, this is gonna hurt but I gotta show it off!" Naruto grinned, "RASENGAN!" he screamed, plowing it into the ground beside Shino. He held up his left hand and a Rasengan slowly formed, "Surrender or I'll have to hit you for real."

"Very well. If you promise me one thing I will surrender."

Naruto nodded, "Anything."

"Get revenge for Kiba."

Naruto grinned, "Didn't I tell you I was already planning to?" he got off of Shino.

"Proctor, I surrender." Shino said to Genma, who nodded.

"Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki is the winner!" Genma announced. "Next match will be the only two left, Gaara of the Sands and Akatsuchi!"

Akatsuchi stood opposite Gaara. He wasn't afraid to admit that the younger boy scared him. Never before had Akatsuchi felt such, plain evil from a person. It shook him to his core.

 **BEGIN**

Genma jumped upwards as sand buried the half of the arena that Akatsuchi stood on.

"Why is it that no one will prove a challenge?" Gaara asked, holding his head, "Mother wants nothing but a worthy challenge for us, instead we get these, sacrifices!" he shouted, "The Hyuga failed me, losing to a pathetic weakling like that! I want someone who can survive more than a few seconds!"

A large claw came from the sand, strange purple markings running along it. It was holding Akatsuchi, who was trying his best to break free to no avail.

"Are you strong enough?" Gaara asked, "You survived, Mother likes the smell of your blood. Not as much as Namikaze or Uchiha, but you will do for now."

The hand slammed Akatsuchi down. The large teen wearily stood up and got ready to fight. Gaara stood cross armed, two fingers on his right hand extended.

Akatsuchi slammed the ground, "Earth Style: Golem Jutsu!" he created a 7 foot golem of stone that lumbered towards Gaara.

"Pathetic! Prove your worth to me!" Gaara screamed flicking his fingers. A claw of sand ripped through the stone.

"Earth Style: Gunner Golem jutsu!" Akatsuchi created four golems about his size. Each of them had a large cannon, "Earth Style: Cavalry Golem Jutsu!" he made two golems that were half forse, standing about 9 feet tall, "Here's the kicker, Earth Style: Commander Golem Jutsu!" stones enveloped Akatsuchi, raising him 10 feet off the ground. It closed around him, leaving no visible crevices. Akatsuchi's golem put out its arm, an axe of stone was formed on the ground and raised into his hand.

"That's better!" Gaara yelled.

"FIRE!" Akatsuchi shouted. The gunners all shot large rocks at Gaara as the cavalry ran at Gaara, slashing with their swords. Akatsuchi raised his axe above his head and swung down at Gaara.

Tendrils of sand coming from Gaara's gourd stretched out, blocking each attack. The boulders were shattered by single whips from the tendrils, same as the cavalry. Akatsuchi's axe managed to cut one, but was shattered by the second. Another tendril had pierced the Iwa genin's chest.

The stone around Akatsuchi crumbled as he fell to the ground. Blood pooled around him.

"Of course he's a failure. My next opponent better not be a pushover like him." Gaara glared towards Naruto, "Namikaze I will feed you to mother."

"Just try it Gaara, I'll finish you before your mother can whisper your name to you." Naruto glared at Gaara.

Three medical squads came out and tried to heal Akatsuchi, while a couple Iwa jonin came and helped them carry the large teen to the hospital.

"Gaara of the Sand has won this match." Genma announced, "We'll be moving on to the quarter finals after an hour long break. Please feel free to head to the concession stands just outside the arena."

The crowd slowly poured out of the arena. The only people left were Ino, Sasuke, Naruto, Ayato, Nyxx, Gaara, and Shikamaru.

"You guys ready for the next round?" Shikamaru asked Team 7.

"I'm ready to kick Gaara's ass." Naruto shouted, garnering the red head's attention.

"Namikaze you should watch your mouth. Mother is still hungry." Gaara said as sand began to swirl around his feet.

An orange aura grew around Naruto, "Watch yourself, I can bind your 'mother' pretty quickly."

Gaara scowled and looked to the ground, "You will bleed." he muttered. Naruto ignored him.

"Anyways, what about you guys?" Naruto asked his friends.

"I'm not sure if they're putting Sasuke in his original spot or behind you Naruto, but either way I'm ready." Ino grinned, "Shika here won't fight a girl anyways." she smiled and patted the Nara on the back.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru layed down, "It would've been a nice day for cloud watching. But I'll have to fight either Ino or Lee in this next round. Neither will be easy."

"You don't think they're gonna change the bracket again?" Sasuke asked.

"No, it'd be useless now, they only did that so we'd prepare for a certain fight then go into something we weren't prepared for." The Nara answered.

The group chatted away the next hour with small talk. They watched the crowds fill back up. Lee walked back onto the balcony, favouring one leg heavily.

"My flames of youth are reignited!" Lee shouted, "I will proceed into the finals!"

You could hear Genma before you could see him. "We'll now proceed with our quarter-finals. Up first, Ino Yamanaka and Shikamaru Nara!"

 _And that's where I'm leaving it! Hope you all enjoyed the fights! Nyxx's heritage is a clue to something special I have in mind for quite a few characters, something you'll all get to see in a few chapters._


	16. Chunin Tournament - 3

"Up first, Ino Yamanaka and Shikamaru Nara!" Genma announced.

"Good luck guys." Naruto nodded at them.

"Thanks Naruto. Don't feel bad about cheering for Ino. She's your teammate after all."

"Naruto you'd better cheer for me." Ino said with a fake smile that made no effort to hide the malice in her voice.

"Yes ma'm!" Naruto saluted, "I will cheer for you."

Sasuke patted Ino on the shoulder, "Good luck."

Ino nodded, "Thanks."

The two genin walked down to the arena. Both knew the other's jutsu well from their fathers. Of course Ino had the Astral Clone, but she didn't doubt Shikamaru had some equivalent.

 **BEGIN**

Ino smashed a smoke bomb on the ground and sent three Astral Clones at Shikamaru while she used an Earth Style ninjutsu to tunnel underground.

"Fire Style: Flame Bullet Jutsu!" Shikamaru shot three quick bullets of fire towards the clones, popping each of them. He spotted the hole that Ino made before and quickly ran towards it. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he blasted a large flame down the tunnel.

"Water Style: Raging Waves!" Ino's voice came from behind Shikamaru. A blast of water hit him in the back and knocked him over. "Ha! I tricked you Shika!" she taunted as she ran towards him. She dodged three kunai from the Nara heir and kept going, or at least tried to.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu, success." Shikamaru said. His shadow extended to the kunai and then to Ino. "Shadow Stitching Jutsu!" spikes of shade erupted from the shadows around Ino's feet, leaving cuts around the girl's feet and legs.

Shikamaru's shadow returned to him and he tossed three kunai around Ino in a triangle. Each kunai had a seal on it, "Three Pillar Sealing Jutsu!" Shikamaru focussed chakra into the kunai.

Suddenly a large blue shield of chakra formed from the kunai, blocking Ino from leaving.

Naruto's eyes widened. Shikamaru hadn't told him about any fuinjutsu. ' _Guess he was keeping it secret.'_ "Ino! Tunnel!" he shouted. Sure Shikamaru would hear but there was no way to avoid that.

Ino nodded. She gathered chakra and broke the ground beneath her. She jumped into the tunnel and cam up right beside the barrier. As she came up she threw ten shuriken and ran towards Shikamaru.

The Nara made a hand seal and shadows danced around him, blocking the shuriken, "Nara Style: Shuriken!" Shikamaru tossed five shuriken. Ino dodged them but as they passed their shadows linked with Ino's and the throwing stars were pulled into Ino, stabbing her in the back.

Shikamaru ran towards Ino and punched her in the stomach twice before kicking her away. "Fire Style: Flame Bullet Jutsu!" Shikamaru fired off three bullets of flame that honed in on Ino, creating a large explosion.

Suddenly Shikamaru's vision changed. He looked around and saw a large field of grass. He reached down, rubbing his fingers across the blades, "Hmm, it's soft." he laid down, "And the clouds are nice." he smiled at the sky, "I'll stay here for a bit. I've done enough." then a frown crossed his face, "Troublesome. Asuma-sensei will get disappointed if I just give up. And after what happened to Hinata and Choji and Kiba. I can't stop here."

He stood up and shook his head, "Genjutsu: RELEASE!" he pulsed chakra off of himself. Suddenly he was back in the arena.

"Sorry Ino. I won't give up though, troublesome as you may be to fight."

Ino smiled, "I kinda hoped that genjutsu would've made you wanna give up. Too bad."

Shikamaru and Ino met in a clash of taijutsu. Ino's Serpent Style helped her slip into Shikamaru's openings but the Nara's clan style made use of all of the openings their attacks made to follow into another attack. Ino jabbed at Shikamaru's chest but suddenly his foot was in her stomach pushing her back. He followed up by stepping into Ino and slamming both elbows into her shoulders, slipping one foot behind her feet and pulling his foot back, knocking Ino off balance. She jabbed at Shikamaru but he caught both her hands. Ino hit the ground and Shikamaru placed his knee onto her chest.

Ino tried to move but Shikamaru's grip on her wouldn't cease.

"Ino, give up." Shikamaru said. Suddenly shadows wrapped around her wrists and with his free hands Shikamaru held a single handed hand seal and the other held a kunai to her throat.

Ino growled, the only genjutsu she could cast without hand seals was a basic illusion and that wouldn't do anything. She felt shadows wrapping around her ankles and sighed, "Fine, I surrender."

Genma looked impressed, "Shikamaru Nara is the winner of this match!" he announced, "Next up will be Rock Lee and Ayato Hattori!"

Lee jumped down onto the arena floor and immediately kicked off his weights. He grabbed the four pieces of metal that rested in the weights and attached them, forming a bo staff. Ayato noticed Lee favouring one leg

Ayato appeared on the field with white sparks flying off of him. He already had his sword drawn.

 **BEGIN**

"The Eight Gates! First Gate, Gate of Opening, OPEN! Second Gate, Gate of Healing, OPEN! Third Gate, Gate of Pain, Fourth Gate, Gate of Life, Fifth Gate, Gate of Closing, OPEN!" Lee's skin turned red as his blood flow skyrocketed. Lee's injured leg didn't seem to bother him anymore either.

Ayato and Lee met in a clash of sword on staff. Lee kicked Ayato hard in the side, sending him flying.

' _Even with my Swift Style activated he's still faster than me?'_ Ayato blocked a powerful staff strike with his sword. He jumped back and held his sword upwards. "Hazy Moon Night." he whispered. Suddenly his sword appeared to be clones, forming a large circle. Suddenly a second Ayato appeared behind Lee. The taijutsu specialist watched as his bo split in two. Suddenly the first Ayato disappeared. Three gashes exploded on Lee's chest. The bowl-haired boy dropped the pieces of his staff and clutched his chest, a look of pain on his face.

Ayato turned around and looked at Lee, "You're fast, but I'm faster."

"Are you? I will show you my youth." Lee said, appearing in front of Ayato faster than the boy could see and kicking him in the chin, knocking him into the air. Lee appeared above the boy, "LEAF DROP!" he spun around and slammed a heel into Ayato's stomach, knocking the boy to the ground, hard. "I believe I remember you from my first year in the academy. You took the exam as soon as you could, and passed. I was jealous of you." Lee said as he landed beside the boy, who was laying on the ground.

Ayato stood up, "I'm sorry for thinking you were worthless." he said, "I should have tried to help you instead of pitying you." Ayato spun his blade around, "As an apology I will finish this with my strongest jutsu." lighting erupted around Ayato's sword, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Ayato made two clones of himself, each with their own lightning covered blade. Suddenly the Ayatos were around Lee, slashing from the front, left, and right sides. All three bodies converged in on each other behind Lee as three more gashes appeared on the taijutsu user.

Lee fell to his knees. He was bleeding too much, he couldn't keep going like this… no he would. Lee stood up and looked to Gai, "Gai-sensei, I am going to win, I promise! And if I cannot I will perform 5000 push-ups in five minutes."

"Lee, no!" Gai shouted, about to jump down but Asuma stopped him.

"Believe in the kid, he's got this." Asuma said. Gai still looked antsy but stepped off the railing.

"Sixth Gate, Gate of Joy, OPEN!" Lee shouted. Power radiated off of him, loose rocks floated around him in a vortex. "I am ready to end this Ayato!" Lee appeared before the boy faster than even some of the jonin could see, "Leaf Triple Hwechook!" Ayato's head rocked to either side then he flew forwards. "Severe Leaf Hurricane!" Lee smashed his foot into the flying Ayato's stomach, knocking the air from the teen's lungs and sending him in the opposite direction. "Morning Chicken!" Lee punched the air incredibly fast, sending small fireballs at Ayato, who was helpless to the assault. The Swift Style user fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Rock Lee is the winner of this match!" Genma announced. "Without further ado, we'll continue on to the third match of the quarter finals, Nyxx and Sasuke Uchiha!"

Lee dropped to the ground and a medical squad grabbed him at the same time as Ayato, shaking their heads.

"You know Gai, as much as your enthusiasm is admirable, you didn't have to go passing it on." Kurenai said as she shook her head, "Lee could have killed himself or either of his opponents."

"Oh but he didn't. Lee knows better than that." Gai said, "Even so, he should not have opened the sixth gate, I told him that I would watch over him as he did so, in case it went wrong."

"That was his first time opening the sixth gate?" Kakashi asked, "That's impressive."

Gai smiled, "Of course, he is my student after all. And in the contest of strongest students I'm afraid that I have won this competition Kakashi." Gai smiled.

"We'll see. Either Naruto or Sasuke will make it to the finals, and if Lee manages to make it as well they'll battle on behalf of us." Kakashi said, he usually tried not to give in to Gai's antics, but he was proud of his team, and he was sure they could beat Lee.

Sasuke idly spun his sword as Nyxx tossed a small ball of flame from hand to hand.

 **BEGIN**

Immediately Nyxx threw the fireball at Sasuke, who stepped under it and flew forwards in a burst of speed, slamming a shoulder into Nyxx while slashing the teen's stomach, leaving a deep gash.

Nyxx flew back, catching himself and flipping so that he faced Sasuke. "You're good. Faster than I anticipated, even after your last match. But you are no match for the might of a phoenix." Nyxx clapped his hands together, "Phoenix Style: Spear of the Phoenix!" pulling his hands apart he created a blazing spear of flames, which solidified into molten gold. Nyxx charged at Sasuke, who managed to just barely dodge or deflect each jab of the spear, until Nyxx planted the spear in the ground and spun around it, kicking Sasuke hard in the side and sending the Uchiha flying.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan, this wouldn't be as easy a match as he had hoped. His sword was covered in lightning as he charged Nyxx. He saw the boy's attacks just before they were started and jumped over a series of jabs, cutting the spear in half and planting his foot in Nyxx's face.

Nyxx hit the ground, dropping his weapons and clutching his broken nose. His hands lit up in flames and he burnt his face. When he moved his hands the blood was gone and his nose was fixed. He smirked darkly as Sasuke, "Let's move onto round 2!" he ran towards the Uchiha, grabbing the two halves of his weapons and spinning them both around, changing their shape to that of two broadswords. He slashed at Sasuke, who blocked each attack, but just barely. Nyxx smirked and jumped away from Sasuke, dropping both his swords, "Fire Style: Immolation Jutsu!" he shouted, exhaling a white hot cone of flames.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he jumped away, that attack would have killed him. Time seemed to slow down around him as he landed. He didn't pay it any mind and rushed towards Nyxx, who was moving in slow motion. Sasuke took his sword and slashed Nyxx across the chest twice, leaving an X-shaped gash.

Sasuke spun around, twirling his sword and slashing Nyxx again, this time across the back. He jumped away and grabbed his left wrist, "CHIDORI!" he screamed, running forwards and plunging his hand into Nyxx's chest, just missing the boy's heart.

Nyxx fell to his knees as Sasuke pulled his arm out. The Uchiha sheathed his sword and stepped away, waiting for Genma's announcement.

Suddenly Nyxx exploded, literally, into a pillar of flames. "Phoenix Style: Flame Pillar!" the teen's voice rang out. "Phoenix Style: Ascension!" the pillar condensed into Nyxx's form and the flames started to peel away, floating around the boy. His hair was now seemingly made of scarlet flames, his eyes now matched his gold scarf and his black pants hadn't changed. There were strange red markings along his torso that went up his arms and onto his back. The flames that swirled around him formed into huge wings. "Now, witness the power of an Ascended Shinobi!"

Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Sasuke! Get outta there!" Naruto shouted.

Gaara's eyes widened, ' _To think, there was someone in my own village with this level of power.'_ the sand swirled around him as he walked to the edge of the balcony, "He will feed us well mother."

Shikamaru looked to the jonin, who were all about to jump in and stop the Suna genin. The Suna jonin were all laughing except one, Baki -the jonin in charge of Gaara's squad. He was looking towards the Kage booth.

"Troublesome. Naruto, we should stop this." Shikamaru said, "Ino, Astral Clones. Naruto, Shadow Clones and Rasengan, as many as you can. I'll try and catch his shadow."

"He's too bright, your shadow won't reach him." Naruto said, "Let me use my clones as water pumps while I go in for a Rasengan. Sasuke should be able to use Chidori at least once more."

Sasuke looked up at Naruto, "Dobe, stay up there. I've got this." he took out a soldier pill and swallowed it, ' _Listen up you stupid seal, give me your power!'_ he then grabbed his head, screaming out in pain. Black asterisks began to cover his skin. "Perfect, now I'll take you out." Sasuke smirked, though the pain in his head was still making it hard to keep the Sharingan active.

 _And that's where I'm leaving it! Hope you all enjoyed it! Sorry Linkie and ZeroTailedJinchuuriki for having your OCs lose, but don't worry, they'll still have time to shine coming up!_


	17. Chunin Tournament - 4

Sasuke stood facing Nyxx, black markings creeping along the left side of the Uchiha's body. Nyxx was as radiant as the sun, his fiery wings billowing in the breeze.

Kakashi shook his head, "I warned him, I can't suppress it fully, my seal relies on his willpower, and yet he purposely broke it." Kakashi was disappointed with himself, if he had made Sasuke stronger than he wouldn't be using this dark power. ' _Minato-sensei, what did I do wrong?'_

" **DESTROY HIM!"** That voice… Sasuke remembered the last time he heard it, while training with Kakashi.

 **FLASHBACK - START**

 _Kakashi kicked Sasuke in the head, not even looking away from his book. "We've been training for three days, are you really still not able to evade using Shunshin?" the jonin asked, "Because if that's the case then we're done here."_

" _Again!" Sasuke shouted, he had gotten the premise of Shunshin down pretty quickly but using it in the middle of battle was a lot harder, especially when your opponent was a jonin on Kakashi's level._

 _Kakashi shook his head, "Alright come on."_

 _Sasuke charged Kakashi and ducked under a fist, entering the Shunshin quickly he dodged a knee. He stopped on the other side of Kakashi and caught his breath, "Finally." he panted, only for Kakashi to deliver a painful punch, followed by an elbow and finally a kick that sent him flying to the edge of the mountain they trained on. "What was that for?" Sasuke grabbed the ground as he felt his blood begin to boil._

" _Hmm? Oh I thought we were sparing." Kakashi said, putting his book away, "Ready?"_

 _Sasuke screamed, angrily running at Kakashi and attacking expertly, his Uchiha-style taijutsu nearly perfected at this point. Kakashi lazily dodged each blow and poked at Sasuke with a finger every time the boy missed._

" _Maa maa, Sasuke you've gotta be faster this that if you wanna beat Naruto." Kakashi shook his head._

 _Sasuke exploded with rage, punching Kakashi in the face in a burst of speed that surprised the jonin. Sasuke fell to his knees and screamed in pain, clutching at his neck where Orochimaru had left his mark. Suddenly black flame-like marks spread around his body. Sasuke clawed at them, trying to tear them off, "NO! STOP!" he screamed._

" _ **Accept the snake's power Sasuke, it will bring you your revenge!"**_ _Damn that voice, he hadn't heard it since Wave when he killed one of those chunin on the way, what was his name? Meizu?_

" _GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Sasuke screamed at both the dark voice and Orochimaru's laughter, which echoed throughout his being._

 _Kakashi quickly jumped to Sasuke and placed a hand on the seal, using his free hand to run through nearly fifty hand seals, "Evil Sealing Method! SEAL!" he shouted. The marks returned to Sasuke's neck and a red ring appeared around them, sealing them there._

 **FLASHBACK - END**

"Sorry, I'm gonna end this now though." Sasuke said, shaking away the thought of that voice, maybe Kakashi would know what it was.

Nyxx shook his head, "As if some tattoos are gonna change anything." he inhaled and shot out a large fireball. Sasuke merely scoffed and shot his own fireball, which clashed with Nyxx's and created a huge explosion. Sasuke's Sharingan saved him as he subconsciously ducked, a blazing wing passing over his head.

Sasuke tossed a kunai at Nyxx and pushed chakra into his legs, bouncing away. "Lightning Style: Shock Wave Jutsu!" Sasuke clapped and sent arcs of electricity all around him. It didn't do much to Nyxx, who dashed right through the attack, the kunai embedded in his shoulder.

"Phoenix Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" Nyxx exhaled a ball of white-hot flames and flapped his wings, sending gusts of wind to speed the fireball up.

Sasuke jumped over the fireball and tossed five more kunai, each one stabbing into Nyxx, though missing all of his vitals. Sasuke slashed with his sword, leaving a deep gash across Nyxx's chest. Both shinobi jumped away and glared at each other.

"Phoenix Style: Phoenix Wave!" Nyxx erupted in flames, flapping his wings wildly and sending slashes of white-hot flames at Sasuke.

Sasuke jumped around the attacks, dodging all of them and making a hand seal that Naruto was all to familiar with.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted, making two clones. All three clones were suddenly behind Nyxx, "White Fang Dance!" Sasuke said, sheathing his blade. Suddenly lightning arced around Nyxx before the teen exploded.

Gai smirked, "He mixed the Dance of the Crescent Moon with a lightning chakra current after seeing it only once. Impressive Kakashi."

The white haired jonin shrugged, "That's all him. I taught him basic maneuvers, he's the one who learnt it."

Sasuke ran up and slashed at Nyxx with unrelenting fury, tearing the teen up. With one exceptionally powerful slash Sasuke cut Nyxx down the middle. He jumped back.

" **Well done."** That damned voice, " **Another step towards Itachi."**

Sasuke didn't sheath his sword. After all the damage he'd done to Nyxx already he couldn't deny the possibility that his adversary was still up.

Genma was about to call the match when pillars of flame erupted around the arena, Nyxx's shape was flitting about them.

"This is getting boring. You're not strong enough to win, just give up already." Sasuke said, running at the center pillar of flames and slashing.

A pained roar from Nyxx echoed through the arena. Sasuke used Shunshin to appear on the other side of the arena as all of the pillars danced around, converging on the center pillar and creating a huge explosion.

"DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" Nyxx shouted, white hot fireballs flying all over, with a couple headed towards the crowded stands.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he and the other Leaf jonin went to work.

"Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu!" Kakashi shouted, taking out half of the flames on his own.

Gai appeared on the other side of the arena and kicked a few fireballs away, extinguishing them with his speed.

Asuma spun his trench knives and the remaining fireballs in half, snuffing them out with vacuums of wind.

Sasuke glared at Nyxx, who walked out of the explosion. "Would you just die already?"

Nyxx's eyes widened, "DIE!" he rushed Sasuke, creating a spear of flames that hardened into gold once again. He slashed and stabbed but Sasuke read his moves too well, dipping past his guard and cutting his hands off.

Suddenly Sasuke spun around, "Chidori!" he shouted, lightning erupted around him and he plunged the attack into Nyxx's chest, finally downing the teen.

As Nyxx hit the ground his hair returned to black and his wings faded into embers that floated away in the wind. The red marks faded.

Sasuke placed the tip of his sword on the small of Nyxx's back, "You did well." he plunged the blade in, "Now even if you heal from my Chidori through your heart you should be paralyzed."

"Sasuke Uchiha is the winner!" Genma announced, wiping sweat from his brow.

A medical squad rushed in and took Nyxx away. They offered Sasuke healing but he waved them off.

Sasuke looked towards Naruto, "Dobe, you'd better win against that sand kid."

Naruto grinned, poking himself in the chest, "Of course I'll win."

"Next match will be Gaara of the Sand and Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki!" Genma announced.

Naruto jumped down on the arena, using Earth chakra to harden the ground around him as he landed.

Gaara floated down on a cloud of sand.

 **BEGIN**

"YOU WILL BE FED TO MOTHER!" Gaara exploded, sand flying from all around Naruto, intent on crushing him.

"Gale Surge!" Naruto shouted, wind exploded off of him, sending all the sand to the edge of the arena. "Shut it with that 'Mother' thing would ya? I'm not gonna get fed to your or your 'mother', you know it's just a demon right?" Naruto said as he walked towards Gaara, "You're from Suna so I'm guessing it's Shukaku, the One Tails."

Gaara's eyes glossed over with rage, "Mother is not a demon! Mother is the only one who loves me!" the sand from the edge of the arena as well as from Gaara's gourd all flew at Naruto, forming into spears.

Naruto dodged as many as he could before deciding that the nice guy approach was gonna get him killed. "Water Style: Raging Waves!" Naruto shot a stream of water into Gaara's shoulder, cutting through the sand and drawing a bit of blood.

The sand fell as Gaara went silent. He began shaking as he looked at his shoulder. A malevolent purple chakra began pouring off of him. "This is blood… my blood. Mother, he cut me, he cut me mother. Punish Him! PLEASE!" Gaara began sobbing. "No, no I can't do that. I need you to help me punish him mother!" Gaara twisted his head, "Interesting… yes I'll do that mother." Gaara screamed and the sand drilled into Naruto.

Naruto however, was no longer there, having replaced himself with a clone. The blond plowed a fist into Gaara's face, knocking him back a few feet.

Gaara's face cracked, sand dropping down and revealing an armor that covered his entire body. His nose was bleeding from the punch and he screamed. "BASTARD!" sand converged on Naruto before the blond could react, burying him.

Suddenly the sand became moist and fell flat around the arena. Naruto stood up, scarlet chakra leaking from his poores. "Alright, now I'm done." he appeared beside Gaara and delivered three quick punches before kicking the redhead in the chin. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto created twelve clones and they all jumped upwards, surrounding Gaara. Naruto followed suit, a blue orb being created in his hand as he flew upwards.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Hinata jumped up, "Go Naruto!" she shouted.

Choji munched on some chips. He'd expected Gaara to be weaker. Even after what happened to Kiba he'd labeled it a fluke. That Akatsuchi guy was just out of his element.

Kiba watched, depression evident on his face. Akamaru yipped in excitement as he saw Naruto turn the sand to mud. Kiba took the young dog from his lap and placed him on Hinata's before wheeling away.

"Kiba come…" Hinata tried to stop him but the Inuzuka just ignored her.

Choji placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder, "As much as I hate it there's nothing we can do for him. Konoha's best doctors tried and nothing came of it."

"I know but…" Hinata looked down. Akamaru licked her face before running off after Kiba.

Choji gave her a sad smile, "I feel like something will happen. I don't know why, but it's the same kinda feeling I get when I hear Naruto talk about being Hokage. It's something that is going to happen, no matter what. Kiba will get better."

Hinata smiled, Choji had a strange way of making her feel better. "I believe you Choji."

Suddenly a blur passed by them, heading out the door. It was followed by three others.

Hinata looked towards the exit, "Something is happening. I don't like this feeling."

Choji nodded, "Let's go."

Together they followed after whoever was running out of the arena that fast. As they ran they saw Shino was following the shapes as well.

"Hinata, Choji. Hello." The Aburame said.

"Shino, what are you doing?" Choji asked.

"I am following the enemy with the ANBU." He responded.

"Any idea who it is?" Hinata asked.

"I am not sure. I merely saw Lord Hokage tell three ANBU to pursue whoever it is. I decided to follow."

The three genin caught up with the ANBU quickly. There was a bear -Kuma, crow -Kara, and mouse -Nezu.

"Return to the arena genin." Kara said.

"I apologize, but I will not follow that order. We can help." Shino said. Hinata and Choji nodded behind him.

Kuma looked at them, "Fine, Hyuga use your Byakugan. Akimichi you'll be front lines with me. Aburame you flank left with Nezu and set some traps. GO!"

Hinata and Choji stayed with Kuma. Hinata's Byakugan activated. "Target has stopped moving. They are standing in the middle of the market area."

"Damn." Kuma tapped a radio on his waist, "Kuma here. Kara, Nezu, evacuate the citizens."

"Roger."

"Got it."

Kuma barreled through the village, Hinata and Choji barely able to keep pace with him. "Ninja Art: Herculean Strength!" the ANBU shouted, a dull yellow glow overtook him for a moment. He charged into the market area and grabbed the ninja he was pursuing by the neck and slammed them into the ground. Suddenly he was holding smoke. He spun around and saw Hinata kick his mark in the back. Kuma got up and clotheslined the ninja, knocking them to the ground.

Choji came barreling in from the air, slamming into the downed ninja with an enlarged leg.

"Good work." Kuma told them, "I would have died if not for you two."

"Kara here, requesting back-up." Kara's voice rang through the radio, "Heading towards the evacuation shelters, being pursued by three, no four, ninja, Otogakure in origin." she said.

"Kuma here, copy that. On our way." Kuma looked at Hinata and Choji, "Let's move." they nodded and followed the man.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at Kara's position. She was fending off four Oto-nin, two of which were clearly long distance Wind Style users and the other two close range experts, one using a bo and the other using taijutsu. Kara was fending all four off with a mixture of small genjutsu and taijutsu.

"Hyuga, take out the ninjutsu users. Akimichi, watch over the civilians as they reroute. I'll destroy this passage and help Kara with the close range fighters." Kuma said. Again both genin nodded and did as they were told.

"Follow me, I'll lead you to another shelter!" Choji shouted at the civilians. They all followed him as he marched away.

Hinata ran at the two ninjutsu users, activating her Byakugan silently she jabbed one of them in the back of the neck and he crumpled. The other -a woman with straight black hair and plain looking eyes- turned to her and charged. Hinata ducked under a poorly executed roundhouse kick and slipped behind the woman, jabbing her three times in the back before palming a kunai and stabbing the woman in the spine.

Hinata turned around to help Kuma and Kara but saw them effortlessly kill both Oto shinobi without hesitation. Kara simply snapped the man's neck while Kuma literally ripped the woman in half at her waist.

"W… what should we do now Kuma?" Hinata asked.

The man ignored her, turning instead to Kara, "Find Neko and inform Lord Hokage. Konoha is being attacked by Oto." Kara nodded and disappeared. Kuma turned to Hinata, shaking his head and throwing two kunai at the girl.

They whizzed past her head and she flinched as she heard two pained squeals. "Never leave an enemy alive Hyuga." Kuma berated her, "Other than that well done. Head to the academy and inform Iruka of the attack. He'll give you orders from there."

Hinata saluted and dashed off.

 _And that's that for now! Phew sorry it's been a while guys, Apex Legends has been taking all of my time lately. I've never been one for those battle royale games but this one is just, WOW! Totally in love! If any of you guys play it on PS4 add me up my ID is kangofdragons_


	18. Invasion - 1

Twelve clones of Naruto surrounded Gaara's airborne form. The real Naruto was jumping upwards, a blue orb forming in his right hand, "RASENGAN!" he screamed.

Suddenly Naruto was slammed by a powerful wind jutsu, knocking him to the ground. His clones were erased with blades of wind at the same time. Baki -the Sand jonin- stood in the center of the arena, Gaara on the ground beside him.

Genma charged at Baki. The Sand jonin dodged a series of punches and kicks and jumped away, grabbing Gaara and slashing two fingers at Genma. Suddenly the senbon chewing Leaf ninja felt his chest rip op as blood spurted out.

"Temari, Kankuro." Baki turned to them, "Start."

A large two headed snake broke through the arena, killing multiple civilians as it did. Gai leapt up and punched it in one of the faces as Asuma slashed at the other. Kurenai began leading civilians and genin out of the arena.

Hiruzen looked towards the Kazekage, "What is this treachery?"

"Oi monkey, are you forgetting about me?" Oonoki asked, "Dust Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"

"Purification Style: Heavenly Barrier!" Hiruzen shouted, creating a barrier around him that absorbed the jutsu.

The Kazekage began to laugh as he took off his green robes, revealing Orochimaru, "Well hello sensei." the man smirked, "I'll leave you and your old friend for now, but I'll be back once I'm done visiting my old teammate."

"Orochimaru!" Hiruzen tried to chase after his student but was stopped by a wall of floating rocks. "Oonoki, I have respect for you so I will ask you this before we continue, are you willing to die just to help Orochimaru?"

"No." Oonoki responded, "But I am willing to die to finally eradicate the Leaf. Dust Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!" he fired off another beam of destruction which pierced through his stone wall and made its way towards the medical bay.

"Purification Style: Heavenly Wall!" Hiruzen created a wall of energy that stopped Oonoki's justu in its tracks.

"That damn Purification Style of yours." Oonoki growled, "A Kekkei Tota similar to my Dust Style, but more defense based. Good for me I have the advantage here since you have to defend everything and I just have to destroy!" the Tsuchikage floated up into the sky.

"Damn you!" Hiruzen jumped up after him, a gold adorned black bo appearing in his hand as he did.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Naruto shook the pain away as he stood up and watched Baki split Genma open. His eyes widened for a second before he was about to give chase to Baki, but was stopped by a creepy looking puppet.

"I don't really wanna have to fight you of all people, but an order is an order." Kankuro said as he stared down Naruto.

"Get out of my way." Naruto glared. When Kankuro didn't move he charged, slipping underneath the puppet and creating two clones to distract it while he charged Kankuro, only to be swept away by a powerful gust of wind courtesy of Temari.

"Gaara is fighting the other genin so I thought I'd help you." Temari said to her brother, who snickered.

Naruto looked over to see Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura, Tenten, Sasuke, Linkie, and Kimi -Linkie and Ayato's third teammate- all facing off against Gaara, though he was covered by sand with strange purple marks running through it and his face was beastial.

"Dammit, I've gotta help them!" Naruto ran towards them, only to be attacked by Kankuro's puppet and pinned down.

Temari held her fan out at him, "Sorry kid, but we've got our orders to subdue you by any means necessary."

Naruto growled, using all his strength to try and lift Kankuro's puppet off himself, but the cat suit wearing boy just jumped on his puppet and laughed.

Naruto growled and suddenly there were dozens of other Narutos popping up around him, throwing Kankuro and his puppet off of him. Naruto jumped up and kicked Kankuro hard in the head, knocking the older boy to the ground.

Temari swung her fan and sent Naruto flying away. He caught himself and shook his head, ' _Ero-sennin, where are you?'_ he thought. He knew Jiraiya was still in the village, he also knew that Jiraiya was arguably the strongest one here and would be a great help. He watched Kakashi and Gai fighting against a horde of Oto and Suna ninja as well as three gigantic snakes.

"Adamantine Chains: Chakra Sealing Whips!" Blue chakra began to flood from Naruto's poures, turning orange as it swirled around him, forming into chains that wrapped around his arms and hanging on the ground. ' _Gotta remember to thank Ero-sennin showing me my mom's Uzumaki Clan Jutsu scrolls next time I see him.'_ Naruto thought as he flung his whips forward, wrapping Temari up and throwing her into Kankuro. As he was hit by his sister Kankuro lost control of his puppet, which crumpled down to the ground for a moment.

"Water Style: Starch Syrup Capture Jutsu!" Naruto exhaled a sticky grayish-brown liquid that stuck Temari and Kankuro to the ground. "Now to help Kakashi-sensei." he turned and jumped towards Kakashi, throwing a kunai into the head of an Oto-nin as he jumped.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Oonoki rapid fired his Atomic Dismantling Jutsu, though each shot was blocked by one of Hiruzen's barriers.

"Just die already monkey!" Oonoki roared.

Hiruzen ducked under one of Oonoki's blasts -which destroyed a large portion of the stadium- and smacked the old man in the head with his bo, "I'm sorry Oonoki, but it's you who will die today." Hiruzen jumped back, "Purification Style: Evil Eradication Jutsu!" water, lightning, and fire all began to spin around Hiruzen, slowly gathering in a ball in front of the Hokage.

Suddenly Hiruzen's staff leapt forwards, changing into an old monkey that was about 7-feet tall. He gripped Oonoki in a full nelson and nodded at Hiruzen.

"You fool! You'll kill your own summon!" Oonoki laughed, he knew Hiruzen too well after meeting the man on the battlefield so many times over the years, he couldn't bring himself to kill an ally.

Hiruzen had a sad look on his face, "I'm sorry." he said as the ball was finalized. He pushed his hands forwards and it flew, growing larger in size and engulfing both Oonoki and Enma.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Orochimaru landed on the roof of the Hokage tower, where Jiraiya was standing along with Ibiki, overseeing Konoha's forces during the invasion.

"It's been a long time Jiraiya." Orochimaru said, walking up behind them.

Jiraiya, without turning around, shook his head, "Should have known you'd plan this Orochimaru. Ibiki you should get out of here. I'll handle the snake."

Ibiki nodded, "Understood." he ran off to oversee the battle from elsewhere.

Jiraiya then turned to Orochimaru, his face red with anger, "You couldn't help yourself could you? You're pathetic you know, whining and running off because you didn't get what you wanted. We're not children anymore Orochimaru."

The Snake sannin's face was twisted with rage, "What did you say Jiraiya?" Orochimaru took two steps forward, "This coming from the one who won't stop chasing me around, like a puppy looking for it's master!"

"More like a boy searching for his best friend." Jiraiya said, "Too bad mine is dead."

Orochimaru snickered, "Well I came here to kill you once and for all but you're so pathetic I think I'll just-"

He was cut off by Jiraiya slamming a heel into his chin, sending him flying away. Jiraiya jumped up and slammed a powerful palm into Orochimaru's face, knocking the sannin off of the tower and onto the ground below, in the middle of a small battle of chunin and jonin.

Orochimaru growled and lashed out with wide kicks. Jiraiya backstepped, accidentally bumping into an Oto-nin as he did. Jiraiya took the enemy ninja and -with one hand- picked him up by the hair and slammed him into Orochimaru.

The snake sannin opened his mouth as his own subordinate came down upon him. His mouth opened to unnatural proportions as he swallowed the man.

Jiraiya had a disgusted look on his face as he punched Orochimaru in the stomach, knocking him back a few feet.

"Poison Style: Scorpion Stinger Jutsu!" Orochimaru quickly made a large purple stinger around his hand and jabbed it at Jiraiya, who jumped back.

Orochimaru ran at Jiraiya, firing small bullets of poison at Konoha-nin that he passed and stabbing others with his stinger.

Jiraiya pulled out a kunai and shook his head, ' _Jiraiya you crazy old fool.'_ he ran at Orochimaru, spitting oil at any Suna, Oto, or Iwa ninja that he passed during the small trek to his rival.

The sannin clashed stinger to kunai. Both tried to push the other back to no avail.

"Poison Style: Snake Spit!"

"Oil Style: Oil Bomb!"

Both fired off small jutsu at the other from point black small jutsu collided and splashed down harmlessly.

Jiraiya smiled, "I remember taking out a whole platoon with a similar combination during the second war."

Orochimaru snarled, "You fool your oil was useless, it was my poison that did all the work."

Jiraiya shook his head, "Actually it was Tsunade-hime's Earth Walls that did the hard job."

"She always was the useful teammate." Orochimaru snickered, ducking down and sweeping Jiraiya's legs from under him, knocking the man to the ground. Orochimaru rose and stabbed his stinger down on the man, but was stopped when a Konoha jonin tackled him into the ground.

"Master Jiraiya!" The man shouted as Orochimaru stabbed the stinger straight through his chest.

"Thank you." Jiraiya bowed to the dead man as he stood up. "Your sacrifice won't be forgotten." Jiraiya, with a burst of speed Orochimaru hadn't seen on the man before, slammed a knee into Orochimaru's chest, following with an elbow to the snake summoner's neck, smashing him to the ground. A blue orb appeared in Jiraiya's hand, "RASENGAN!" he plowed the sphere into Orochimaru's back, shattering the ground beneath him and splitting open his stomach, leaving blood to seep everywhere.

Jiraiya jumped upwards, quickly going through hand seals, "Oil Style: Oil Dome Jutsu!" with a mighty breath Jiraiya covered Orochimaru in oil, "Fire Style: Flame Bullet Jutsu!" Jiraiya said sadly as he blasted Orochimaru with fire, causing his fellow sannin to erupt in flames.

 _And that's where I'll leave it for here, sorry the chapter is so short, I just wanted to get this out for you guys but I really haven't been feeling writing very much lately. Anyways I hope you like it, hopefully I'll update again soon._


	19. Invasion - 2

Hiruzen watched as Enma -his summon and long time friend, King of Monkeys- was swallowed by his jutsu while holding Oonoki -the Tsuchikage. The ball expanded and then collapsed in on itself. Enma stood there, panting.

"Hiruzen, I hate when you use that jutsu." Enma said.

The old man chuckled, "You know it won't harm you Enma."

Enma just turned back into a staff and flew into Hiruzen's hands.

"Now to find Orochimaru." Hiruzen jumped away.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted as he kicked a Suna chunin into a group of others while Kakashi turned them to dust with a fireball. "How can I help?"

"Naruto?" Kakashi looked at his student, then towards the other Konoha genin, "Go help your teammates!"

Naruto nodded, "Alright sensei. But we're coming to help you after!"

Kakashi shook his head, "Of course. Now go!"

Naruto ran towards Gaara, who was managing to hold off all of the other Konoha genin at the same time, his sand flying about and pinning genin to the ground. Linkie blasted a slash of sand away with their Chaosgan but a tendril of sand slashed their eyes, blinding them.

Naruto's eyes widened as a tendril of sand pierced Linkie's chest, the genin fell to the ground with blood spraying from the wound.

Kimi ran over to her teammate, her hands glowing green with her medical jutsu. As she fell to her knees above him Gaara's sand took both of her arms off.

Shikamaru, Ino, and Sakura were suddenly surrounding Gaara, having broke free of the sand binding them. They all struck at Gaara with intense taijutsu combos while Tenten was throwing exploding tags at any tendrils that aimed at them.

"Get away from him all of you!" Sasuke shouted from up in the air, "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" chakra shrouded Sasuke for a brief moment as he heated up his fireball to it's limit. The white hot fireball hit Gaara before the Suna genin could blink, turning the sand around him to glass.

Gaara roared, the glass shattering and sending shards everywhere.

Naruto took the moment before the sand covered Gaara again to appear in front of him and punch him as hard as he could, "Adamantine Chains: Chakra Sealing Prison!" Orange chains of chakra flew from Naruto and wrapped around Gaara, who struggled to break out of them.

Shikamaru and Tenten threw exploding tags onto Gaara while Sakura and Ino worked together to make a genjutsu strong enough to incapacitate him in case the exploding tags didn't finish him off.

Gaara however, let loose a guttural roar, breaking free of Naruto's chains, leaving the blond stunned. The tags exploded but it didn't seem to bother the Jinchuuriki, who lumbered forwards, sand forming around his entire body.

"Angelic Illusion: Tranquility!" Ino and Sakura shouted at the same time. Gaara stopped moving and the sand fell around his feet. His face looked peaceful for a second until his eyes fully closed.

Gaara fell to his knees screaming, "MOTHER NO!"

As he opened his mouth again a different voice came out, a deep voice laced with malice, " **YOU WILL DO AS YOUR MOTHER ASKS BOY!"**

Tears rolled down Gaara's cheeks as sand formed around him, lifting him nearly fifty feet into the air while sand formed a large tanuki under him. Strange purple marks covered the monster as its tail finally formed and smashed a large portion of the village as it billowed back and forth.

Naruto turned to his friends, "Guys I can take him out but I need you to leave."

Sasuke just walked up and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Don't be stupid dobe. We're a team. Right Ino?"

Ino was trying to stop Linkie from bleeding out, having pulled them over to a corner of the arena after Gaara began to float, along with Sakura and Kimi.

"I'll have to leave this to you guys actually." Ino said, "I've gotta try and save Linkie."

Shikamaru and Tenten however, stood beside Naruto and Sasuke, "We'll fill in for Ino. Troublesome as it's going to be." Shikamaru said.

Tenten shook her head, "I'm not sure how much help I'll be against something like this but I'll do my best."

Naruto cracked his knuckles as Sasuke drew his sword. Shikamaru slipped into a stance and Tenten unfurled a scroll while biting her thumb.

Naruto and Sasuke ran forwards together. Sasuke imbued his sword with lightning chakra and cut into one of the tanuki's gigantic legs, barely making it through before jumping away. Naruto ran up the behemoth and charged up a Rasengan, smashing it into the monster's lower mouth just as it was about to fire off a strange jutsu into the village.

" **BRATS SHOULD KNEEL OVER AND DIE!"** The monster shouted, sand bullets flying off its skin and pelting the four genin. Tenten got slammed right in the sternum, knocking her into one of the walls where she slid to the ground. Shikamaru managed to move away so that the bullet only broke his left arm. Sasuke was smashed in the leg and flipped face first into the ground, getting a mouthful of dirt. Naruto, being the closest, took three sand bullets at full power and fell down. HARD.

Naruto hit the ground hard. Sasuke stood up and looked at his best friend seeing half his face missing and both his arms hanging on by threads of muscle. Naruto's right eye was completely gone, a spiral mark replacing it.

Kakashi landed beside Sasuke at this point with a hand on the boy's shoulder. He looked at Naruto and there was clear sadness and hopelessness in his visible eye. "Don't lose hope. We'll avenge him. And then we'll mourn."

Sasuke gulped and nodded. He glanced at Naruto's body again and felt vomit climb his throat but forced it down. "It's hopeless. Naruto is a Jinchuuriki like this guy but you saw how little of a chance he stood. It was basically a sneeze that took him out."

"If you think it's hopeless just leave. You aren't fit to be a shinobi like I thought you were. Did the Fourth Hokage give up when facing the Kyuubi itself? No. He fought to defend his village. Did any of the Uchiha ever give up on a mission? No, they were true shinobi." Kakashi said, stepping forward, his body blocking Sasuke's sight of the beast.

The Uchiha spat, black markings making their way along his body as his Sharingan spun. He stood beside Kakashi. "I'm a true shinobi as well." Sasuke pulled out his sword and covered it with lightning.

"Shikamaru, Tenten, cover Ino. Sasuke and I will handle this." Kakashi said. He inhaled deeply, "Fire Style: Immolation Jutsu!" white hot flames poured from Kakashi's mask, turning the beast's right side into glass.

Sasuke took that moment to stab the glass and send lightning chakra into the behemoth, shattering the glass. The Uchiha sped towards Naruto's body, picking him up and running towards Ino and her temporary healing station. He dropped Naruto's body beside Ino and ran back towards Kakashi wordlessly.

Kakashi rushed towards the regenerating Shukaku, tossing explosive kunai to hinder the regeneration. ' _I'm almost out of explosive kunai, and I don't have the reserves to keep tossing out huge jutsu.'_ Kakashi shook the thoughts out of his mind and jumped above a blast of sand, throwing his last three explosive kunai towards Shukaku's head, but they were blocked by the creature's hand.

Sasuke was suddenly above Kakashi, throwing his own explosive kunai at Shukaku's head now that the hand was no longer in the way.

They all exploded and Gaara was falling to the ground, only to be caught by a cloud of sand that lifted him back to the head, which regenerated quickly.

" **Hahaha, you did well for mere humans, but you can't stand up to me."** Shukaku laughed. It's body reformed quickly, with the purple markings crawling back around it.

Sasuke growled as purple chakra swirled around him. He clutched his head and fell to his knees, screaming in pain. The purple chakra turned black and formed an orb around him.

"Dammit, first Naruto and now Sasuke?" Kakashi grunted as he dodged a swipe of the demon's claw.

Ino was watching Kakashi do nothing but dodge the monster's attacks, unable to do anything against it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Naruto standing up, a dark aura surrounding him and his eyes scarlet red.

"Yo… you're the fox!" Ino scurried away from Kurama, legs trembling.

Kurama looked at Ino and smirked, " **And you're the brat's little girlfriend eh?"** he laughed, looking towards Shukaku and Kakashi, " **Of course my sibling is causing trouble. I guess I'll help you guys out this time."** Kurama was suddenly above Gaara, ripping the redhead out of Shukau's head and throwing him hard towards the ground while holding his other hand out with two fingers outstretched, " **Dark Style: Unholy Lightning!"** red lightning cackled around his fingers and suddenly fired out in the shape of a spear, shattering Shukaku's sand body before it could catch the Jinchuuriki, causing him to hit the ground and leave a crater.

Kurama landed and looked at the orb that was encasing Sasuke. He walked up and clicked his nails on it, leaving cracks. " **Now that just won't do."** Kurama cocked his fist and punched the orb, shattering it and leaving Sasuke laying on the ground. He then turned to Kakashi, " **The brat is begging me to help here, so what can I do?"**

The jonin contemplated attack Kurama and knocking him out, but shook his head quickly to be rid of the thought, that wouldn't help anyone. "Take out as many Oto, Suna, or Iwa ninja you see. Help any civilians escape."

Kurama smirked and disappeared.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Jiraiya stood above Orochimaru, who had 2nd and 3rd degree burns all around his body. "See Orochimaru, you're quest for power has made you weaker. You lost your goal of becoming Hokage and replaced it with the lofty idea of toppling your old home." the Sannin said with tears forming in his eyes, "You've lost. You've lost your home, your peers, and your family. You've lost Sarutobi-sensei, and Tsunade-hime, you've lost Anko and you've lost me." Jiraiya tapped his belt twice, unsealing an old kunai. "You gave me this after winning Rookie of the Year, saying that my kunai were worthless because I was an orphan and your parents were ninja already." Jiraiya looked at the knife, which he hadn't used in a long time, "You know I wanted to throw this away so badly, but I couldn't. You were my brother Orochimaru. Our Team 7 was the closest to family I ever had until Minato. But even you must know the difference between a brother and a child. At least I hope you saw Anko as a daughter."

Orochimaru laughed as his skin started peeling off, "Jiraiya you idiot, you should have finished me when you had the chance." he stood up, mucus dripping from his entire body.

Suddenly Orochimaru's eyes widened as a kunai was embedded in his chest. Jiraiya had managed to get behind him and stabbed him, but how? Jiraiya hadn't moved nor had the man made any Shadow Clones.

"Sarutobi-sensei…" Jiraiya dropped the kunai and it bounced right to Orochimaru's feet.

"I'm sorry Jiraiya. It's the only way." Sarutobi said, his free hand bringing up Enma to smash Orochimaru in the head, "I hope your reincarnation follows a better path."

The snake Sannin stood up, with his head and chest bleeding, "Poison Style: Scorpion Stinger Jutsu!" a purple stinger took the place of his hand as he spun around, stabbing Sarutobi in the stomach and injecting him with ungodly amounts of venom.

The Hokage stumbled back and was caught by Enma, who was in his monkey form.

"Sarutobi! Are you alright?" Enma laid the old man down and growled at Orochimaru.

"RASENGAN!" Jiraiya plowed the jutsu into the back of Orochimaru's head, dropping him to the ground where the toad Sannin continued to drill his head into the dirt below. "You went too far this time Orochimaru!" with his free hand Jiraiya made three hand seals, "Fire Style: Burst Rasengan!" Jiraiya's left hand flamed up and he grabbed onto his right wrist, sending the fire directly into the Rasengan.

The resulting explosion blew everyone away.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Choji was still evacuating citizens when he saw the white haired Kabuto walking through the citizens, straight towards Choji.

"Kabuto right? You can help me keep them under control!" Choji yelled, forgetting about Naruto and Ino's warning so long ago at the beginning of the chunin exams.

Kabuto smirked and adjusted his glasses. "I believe I can get them to quiet down." suddenly two shop owners were without heads s Kabuto's hand passes through their necks with a chakra scalpel.

"Wh… why would you do that?" Choji growled, stepping up to Kabuto.

"To help my master Orochimaru finish off Konoha once and for all." Kabuto smashed Choji in the stomach with his knee, knocking the genin back a few feet.

"Choji!" Shino shouted.

"What's going on?" Nezu, the mouse masked ANBU. He stepped in between Choji and Kabuto, looking at the white haired ninja and the two shopkeeper's bodies.

Shino helped Choji up and turned on Kabuto, "This is Kabuto Yuki, a genin of Konoha. I met him during the first stage of the chunin exams."

"No, he said he's working for Orochimaru." Choji said, standing up and getting ready to fight.

"Oh that's right. I suppose now that my cover is blown I guess I should introduce myself properly. Kabuto Yakushi, Orochimaru's second in command." Kabuto said with a mocking bow.

"Akimichi, Aburame, let's take this bastard down." Nezu said.

"Ya." Was Choji's response. Shino merely nodded.

Nezu rushed for Kabuto, engaging the man in a taijutsu bout. Shino sent wave of insects towards Kabuto and began tossing shuriken at the man. Choji jumped into the air, "Partial Expansion Jutsu: Arm!" his arm tripled in size and he slammed his palm down just as Nezu jumped back.

Choji jumped back and the three watched as Kabuto's broken bones mended and he stood up, unharmed.

"A Good try really." Kabuto smirked. A large snake summon slithered up behind him and he shook his head, "I guess my fun is over." he began walking towards the evacuation shelter. The snake was about to bite at the Leaf shinobi but a huge explosion shook the ground and stopped everyone.

Suddenly the snake was gone and Kabuto's face paled, "Orochimaru-sama!" he ran towards the Hokage Tower.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Kurama dashed through the village, ripping any non Leaf shinobi or citizen to shreds without effort. He stopped however when he came across a familiar looking boy in a wheelchair. He was surrounded by a dozen Oto-nin all closing in on him. The little dog on his lap growling at them.

 _ **Hey brat isn't that one of your friends?**_ Kurama mentally asked Naruto, who was being forced to watch Kurama destroy both enemies and the village that he called home.

 _Ya. That's Kiba Inuzuka. He was paralyzed by Gaara and Shukaku._ Naruto responded.

 _ **Let's fix that shall we?**_ Kurama flashed forward, ripping the heads off of all twelve Oto-nin.

"N.. Naruto?" Kiba asked, looking at the barely recognisable body of his friend.

" **I prefer Kurama but the brat is here yes."** Kurama said with a slight chuckle, " **Now how would you like to make a deal with the devil?"**

* * *

 _And that's all folks! I'm back! Got the next chapter done too so you can all see the aftermath of the invasion. I hope you all enjoyed and I'm sorry for being gone so long, life gets in the way of things though._


	20. Invasion - Aftermath

A week after the invasion Naruto walked into the hospital, one of the few buildings left standing. He looked back and saw the village in varying states of repair. The clans had decided to fix their own compounds first, and a few opened their doors to civilians and clanless ninja.

Naruto himself had nearly 100 clones running about and working on different tasks. A decent portion of the destruction had been Kurama after all.

The blond shook his head and walked into the hospital, waving at the receptionist as he walked by. Walking up the stairs he stopped on the third floor and walked into the long hallway, going to the fourth door on the left.

Naruto felt the anxiety creeping up his legs as they began to shake, he knocked on the door and waited.

"Come in Naruto." Kiba's voice called out.

The blond slid the door open and stepped in, sliding it shut behind him. "Hey Kiba. How are you?"

The Inuzuka had burn marks all over his body, his skin mostly gone, with his hair completely gone. He looked nearly unrecognizable.

"I'm doing better. I need you to tell me what happened though. Why am I able to use my legs again? What happened to me? I remember you saying something about a deal and then waking up here."

Naruto gulped. He remembered when Kurama was in control during the invasion, and the deal he had struck with Kiba as a sick joke. "It's a long story, but the best place to start is against Gaara I guess." Naruto explained how Gaara was the Jinchuuriki of the One-tailed Tanuki Shukaku, and how the monster had taken control and essentially killed Naruto. "That's when the Nine-tailed Fox took over. His name is Kurama. He beat Gaara and decided to help the village for whatever reason. His chakra has healing properties, but they come with a price. I guess he didn't give you enough of his chakra to heal the burns you get from it."

"So I was healed by the Nine-tailed Fox?" Kiba stated more so than asked, "And that's why my legs work but I'm basically skinless?"

Naruto nodded, looking down to the floor, "I'm sorry." he clenched his fists. "I was too weak to beat Gaara without the fox and because of that you lost your skin."

"Don't be stupid." Kiba said, "I can be a ninja again. My legs are better than ever. Just gotta wait for a skin graft."

Naruto nodded, "Speaking of that, Pervy Sage and I are leaving on a mission to find Tsunade Senju and see if she'll come back to the village. We're heading out right after the funeral tomorrow."

Kiba nodded, "Bring her back quickly you hear?"

"Ya. I'll see you tomorrow Kiba." Naruto said as he walked out of the room.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Naruto stood in the front row of the funeral, right beside Konohamaru -the Third Hokage's grandson- and Jiraiya. Beside Jiraiya was Kakashi followed by a few more jonin.

Asuma Sarutobi, the Third Hokage's son, stood on a stage along with nearly twenty coffins. The center most coffin was adorned in red and white, along with the kanji for _third_ on the lid. Asuma took a deep breath before lighting a torch and touching it to the coffin, which erupted in flames.

Naruto saw Jiraiya's fists tighten and legs start shaking. The Sannin looked up to the sky and felt a drop of rain, followed by another, and another, until it was pouring rain. Umbrellas went up but the entire first row just stared at the flames as their leader and family member was sent into the cycle of reincarnation.

There were a few speeches about how great a man Hiruzen Sarutobi was, and how he was the ideal Hokage. Then they listed off the other deceased shinobi, of which Linkie Chaos and Kimi were both listed. Ayato Hattori was asked to say a few words but refused, instead deciding to leave and mourne on his own. Eventually all the others followed suit, leaving Naruto, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Konohamaru, and Asuma.

"Konohamaru." Naruto looked at the academy student, "I'm going to teach you a few things when I get back."

Konohamaru looked up, "Really boss? You mean it?"

Naruto ruffled the kid's hair with a smile, "Believe it!" he then turned to Jiraiya, "Hey Jiraiya-sensei, I'm gonna go pack. Are we still meeting at the East gate?"

Jiriaya however, just continued to stare into the sky, recalling how he killed his teacher and best friend.

 _ **Flashback Start!**_

" _Fire Style: Burst Rasengan!" Jiraiya's flaming left hand clutched his right wrist and ignited the Rasengan he held, resulting in a huge explosion. Jiraiya felt his back slam against the Hokage Tower and he saw many shinobi, ally and enemy alike, get burnt to crisps._

 _Jiraiya stumbled over to Orochimaru's body and saw nothing but a single white snake. Behind it was Hiruzen's form, burnt nearly beyond recognition but still standing. Enma was nowhere in sight._

" _Jiraiya, finish Orochimaru off. His soul resides within that snake." Hiruzen vomited blood as he finished his sentence._

 _Jiraiya pulled out a kunai and beheaded the snake and fired a small flame bullet just to be safe. Then he picked up Hiruzen and ran to the hospital. On the way there he ran right through an enemy force, delivering swift kicks to each of them in succession, knocking most of them out cold and leaving the others stunned enough for ally shinobi to finish off without an issue._

 _The Sannin reached the hospital and broke the doors open, calling out for a doctor and handing Hiruzen to them before collapsing himself._

 **Flashback End!**

"Naruto… we'll leave tomorrow. At the East gate. Whenever you get there is fine." Jiraiya said, still looking at the sky.

"Ero-sennin…" Naruto felt Kakashi's hand clasp his shoulder.

"Let Jiraiya reflect on his own for a while Naruto." The jonin said, leading Naruto away.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

Sasuke walked around his clan complex. During the invasion a few enemies had made their way in and stole the five scrolls that held the history of the Uchiha clan. "I won't let them get away with it." Sasuke said aloud as he walked past his childhood home. He had already checked the bodies of all the enemies they had captured or killed and only found two of the scrolls.

' _Maybe I can get Ino to check who has them. They were both in the hands of Iwa-nin, so I might have to take a trip, not that the council will let me.'_ Sasuke thought to himself as he grabbed his sword and headed across the village to Tenkuro's shop.

The shop was mostly unharmed. Sasuke was sure that Tenkuro had traps and other such defenses to cover the shop while he was away, the man was too careful not to. Sasuke slowly opened the door, ready to jump back if necessary.

"Sasuke." Tenkuro's voice rang out, "I'll be there in a minute. Just browse the swords while you wait."

"Alright." Sasuke called back, not surprised that Tenkuro knew he was there. The man was something else sometimes. "Tenkuro I need some advice."

A hand clasped Sasuke's shoulder, causing the teen to spin around and point his sword at the perpetrator's throat, only to see Tenkuro. Sasuke sheathed his blade and apologized.

Tenkuro laughed it off, "No need to apologize boy. It was a test." Tenkuro was holding a sword wrapped in cloth. "And here's your reward."

 **-Dattebayo!-**

"Ino!" Inoichi's voice rang out, "I need you over here. This guy might have some information and we just got another prisoner who woke up at the hospital."

"Give me one second dad!" Ino called out, breaking her link with an Iwa chunin and quickly injecting him with a sleep drug. " _He had a memory of giving an Uchiha scroll to a jonin. I should talk to Sasuke about this."_ Ino thought to herself as she took over her father's prisoner, the man ran to meet the newest captive.

 **-DATTEBAYO!-**

The next day Ino, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Choji along with Kakashi and Asuma stood around Naruto and Jiraiya at the East gate.

"Get back soon Dobe. There's something we need to talk about." Sasuke said, standing along the fence.

Naruto nodded, if Sasuke needed to talk then he'd listen.

"Good luck Naruto. Find Tsunade and bring her back as soon as you can." Sakura pumped her fist before giving Naruto a quick hug.

"I'll be back in a flash." The blond responded.

Shikamaru shook his friend's hand quickly, "I've gotta go but be safe."

Choji gave Naruto a bag of BBQ chips and patted him on the shoulder, "My dad wants to train me seriously after the invasion so I should get going too. See you around Naruto."

"See you Choji, Shikamaru." The Jinchuuriki sealed the chips away and waved his friends off.

"Sakura, come let's get working on some D-Rank missions." Asuma said, leading his student off, "Good luck Naruto, Master Jiraiya."

Ino hugged Naruto, "Be safe."

He returned the hug, "I will."

* * *

 _And that's that. I hope you guys enjoyed._


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